tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714Sun, 05 Jul 2015 17:41:04 +0000PembertonWordless WednesdayCensusTrahanMertenaSaturday Night FunCurrieDrouillardCousinsObituariesBirthdaysCemeteriesDe LucaNews UpdateSurname SaturdayTombstone TuesdayTreasure Chest ThursdayChamberlainProffittRootsMagicGenealogy GoalsBoneauxFinkleCensus SundayPlaineOrganizationVital RecordsCryslerJermynPrejeanSoftwareBabiesBakerHillmanLesperanceMichiganSmile for the CameraSonnierWeddings1909FGS ConferenceLegacyMilitaryPhelpsRaymondVacation PhotosWelden52 AncestorsBerryBlogoversaryCaliforniaCarnival of GenealogyFamily HomesFamilySearch IndexingFestival of PostcardsFinkFriday FANSLand RecordsMorrisonRAOGKResearch tripsReynoldsVioletAcadian/CajunAwardsBackup FilesBeginning GenealogyCalcasieu ParishCarnahanCothernDetroitDomingueFamily PetsGreat-Great-GrandparentsHalloweenHartmanHouse historiesKingMcGrathNorth CarolinaOccupationsOrthRobertsRowleySeeStovallTrilloTwinsWalhierWedge25 Random ThingsAbout MeArceneauxBarrettBeedonBlog ChangesCampbellCanadaCarlinCarsChattersonChisolmChristmasChurch RecordsCity DirectoriesCloozCombsCommunicationCousin marriagesDentonDeversEasterEllenderFather's DayFindAGraveForgotten Family TreesForsytheGammillGautreauxGenealogy of Vinton FamiliesGoslinHallHarrimanHidalgoHighlights of 2010ImmigrationInfluenza EpidemicLeonardsonLerchLouisianaMardi GrasMcDanielMcIntyreMother's DayMy FirstsNapa ValleyNewspapersNewtonNicholsOdomOld Home RestorationPersonal GenealogyPlonkeyPurpose of this blogRaymerReligionRenfroResearch LogsReview of ResearchRossRuppSSDISaginawSavoieSepulvadoSocial Security ApplicationSparksStevensStrattenSuccessions/ProbatesSurname DistributionSwimming LessonsTaylorTetrickThibodeauTime TravelValentine's DayVeterans DayWWI Draft RegistrationWardWebbWoodsWordlesnaturalizationJennifer's Genealogy Bloghttp://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)Blogger307125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-7772735614943102201Fri, 23 Jan 2015 03:25:00 +00002015-01-22T21:25:25.885-06:00Yes, I Am AliveI was hoping not to do another post reassuring readers I am alive, but another year has gotten away from me. I miss the days when I used to blog all the time. My blogoversary is coming up in a few days (Jan. 26). This blog will be six years old, but it seems that I have not written much in the past two years. Maybe I should just start setting aside one day per week to blog. Maybe Thursday will be my new blogging day. <br /><br />I see that many of my fellow geneabloggers are following Thomas MacEntee's <a href="http://www.geneabloggers.com/tag/genealogy-do-over/" target="_blank">Genealogy Do-Over</a>. I don't intend to participate myself, but I do enjoy watching what others are doing. I just can't commit to that big of a project right now, though I did a do-over myself a few years ago. I got so tired of all my crap information in my database that I had copied from online trees that I decided to start over again. So far, I have gotten all the facts for my great-grandparents sourced. Now I am working on my great-great-grandparents.<br /><br />One thing I have learned is that it really pays off to take time with research and get to know my ancestors. I often find myself rushing through research and quickly moving on to the next line without really analyzing the research I have done and finding the holes that I still need to fill. I feel like I have been researching my Proffitt great-great-grandparents forever, but I also feel like I know them, and that is priceless. This time I even went so far as to hire a professional researcher in Oklahoma to gather some records for me, and I have been very pleased with the results. She can do it a lot more efficiently than I could. Now when I do go to Oklahoma, I can spend my time experiencing the places my ancestors lived rather than having to do research the whole time. Of course, I will do some research, but hiring a professional frees up my time to do other things as well.<br /><br />My next major project is to clean and organize my genealogy office. We bought a nice 4 bedroom house back in March of last year, and I now have my own genealogy office that I don't have to share with my guests when they come to stay. The only problem is that I need to put this office in order so I can use it. I have several boxes that I got from my grandmother's house with items belonging to my great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. I need to go through them and probably get archival boxes to store the items. I also need to organize a lot of my paper files. I started doing this before the move, but it is still a work in progress. I go back and forth between wanting to go paperless but yet wanting to have something tangible to refer back to.<br /><br />Well, that sums up what I've been up to these past few months. I really am going to try to make time to blog on Thursdays. Stay tuned!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/yes-i-am-alive.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-3706264743056318099Sun, 07 Sep 2014 04:39:00 +00002014-11-21T23:13:58.116-06:00ProffittWilliam Harmon Proffitt Timeline<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O4f_lsxmB18/VAvKgocYcWI/AAAAAAAAAt4/eRlf9EyY4FQ/s1600/Wm.%2BH%2BProffitt%2BPortrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O4f_lsxmB18/VAvKgocYcWI/AAAAAAAAAt4/eRlf9EyY4FQ/s1600/Wm.%2BH%2BProffitt%2BPortrait.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rev. William Harmon Proffitt</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>It has been my goal for the last year or so to more fully research all 8 sets of my 2x great-grandparents and get all of the research input into my RootsMagic database. I got majorly sidetracked in November of last year when I took a new position as Controller of 14 dental practices and a real estate company. So now that I am finally getting settled in at work, I'm back to my genealogy research.<br /><br />Interestingly, my paternal grandfather's parents were both only children, so their parents were very easy to research. My paternal grandmother's father was also an only child, so her paternal grandparents were easy to research as well. Her mother, however, had 6 siblings, so her maternal grandparents have been a little more time consuming to research. in addition to researching my 2x great-grandparents, William Harmon Proffitt and Emmer Link Baker, it is taking me awhile to research all of their descendants. I am having trouble finding the marriage records of some of William and Emmer's children, so I've decided that a blog post about everything I know in chronological order is necessary to track William and Emmer through the years. They are especially hard to track because he was a United Brethren/Methodist pastor that moved around from church to church over the years.<br /><br />Here is everything that I know about William and Emmer in chronological order:<br /><br />1) William Harmon Proffitt was born 12 Jul 1871 in Chestnut Hill, Jefferson, Tennessee, to John Proffitt and Catherine Elizabeth Dickey.<br /><br />2) Emmer Link Baker was born 20 Sep 1875 in North Carolina to James Gilbert Baker and Susan Riller Woods.<br /><br />3) William and Emmer married 17 Dec 1896 in Jefferson County, Tennessee.<br /><br />4) Nathaniel Foster Proffitt was born to William and Emmer on 29 Jan 1898 in Dandridge, Jefferson, Tennessee.<br /><br />5) William and Emmer moved to Oklahoma around 1899-1900. William was either a United Brethren or Methodist pastor at the time of the move. I believe he was most likely a United Brethren pastor.<br /><br />6) William and Emmer filed a homestead claim in 1899-1900 near Buffalo, Harper, Oklahoma, but later sold it when he gave his time to the ministry of the church.<br /><br />7) On 1 Jun 1900, William and Emmer were enumerated at Wakita Township in Grant County, Oklahoma, with their son, Nathaniel F. Proffitt, age 2. William's occupation was given as preacher. Wakita is about 100 miles east of Buffalo, where the homestead was filed.<br /><br />8) A second son, James Gilbert Proffitt, was born 30 Jul 1900 in Gibbon, Grant, Oklahoma.<br /><br />9) A daughter, Golda Emmer Proffitt, was born 9 Jan 1902 in Gibbon.<br /><br />10) A third son, John William Proffitt, was born 11 Dec 1903 in Gibbon.<br /><br />11) William was appointed as pastor of Eden Chapel of The Church of the United Brethren in Christ in Perkins, Payne, Oklahoma, from 1904-1906. Perkins is about 120 miles southeast of Gibbon. My source for all of William's appointments in the United Brethren church is <i>80 Years In Oklahoma and Texas: A History of The Oklahoma-Texas Conference of The Evangelical United Brethren Church </i>by Paul L. Davis and Marvin M. Polson et al. <br /><br />12) A second daughter, Kathrine Elizabeth Proffitt, was born 28 Jan 1906. Her exact birthplace is listed in family histories as Mahen, but I have not yet located a town in Oklahoma called Mahen.<br /><br />13) William was appointed as pastor of the United Brethren in Christ Church at Crescent, Logan, Oklahoma, in 1906. Crescent is about 40 miles west of Perkins.<br /><br />14) A third daughter, my great-grandmother, Hassie Cora Proffitt, was born 26 Feb 1908 at Crescent.<br /><br />15) William was appointed as pastor of Campbell Creek Church of the United Brethren in Christ at Logan, Kingfisher, Oklahoma, from 1909-1911.<br /><br />16) William and Emmer were enumerated at Harrison Township in Kingfisher County on 15 Apr 1910. William was listed as a minister. In the household were Foster N., age 12; James G., age 9; Golda E., age 8; John W., age 6; Kathrine E., age 4; and Hassie C., age 2.<br /><br />17) From 1911-1912, William was appointed pastor at the United Brethren in Christ Church at Okarche in Kingfisher County.<br /><br />18) Their youngest child, Bessie Frances Proffitt, was born to William and Emmer on 17 Mar 1912 in Okarche.<br /><br />19) From 1912-1913, William was appointed pastor at the United Brethren church in Vinita, Craig, Oklahoma. Vinita is 192 miles northeast of Okarche.<br /><br />20) From 1913-1914, William was appointed pastor at the United Brethren church in Aline, Alfalfa, Oklahoma. Aline is about 220 miles west of Vinita.<br /><br />21) In 1914, William was appointed as pastor of the United Brethren church in Mutual, Woodward, Oklahoma. Mutual is about 65 miles southwest of Aline.<br /><br />22) In 1917, William was appointed as pastor of First Methodist Church in Gage, Ellis, Oklahoma. He remained there until 1922. My source for this is a family history written by his daughter, Golda, This is corroborated by WWI draft registration records of his sons, Nathaniel and James, and census records.<br /><br />23) On 1 Jan 1920, William and Emmer were enumerated on Walnut Street in Gage. His occupation is listed as M.E. Church Pastor. In the household were Foster N., age 21, railroad laborer; James G., age 18, country school teacher; Goldie, age 17; John W., age 16; Cathrine, age 13; Hassie, age 11; and Bessie, age 7.<br /><br />24) On 29 Apr 1922, William officiated at the marriage of his son, James Gilbert Proffitt, to Miriam Hamilton Dunlavy in Arnett, Ellis, Oklahoma. <br /><br />25) In May 1922, daughter Hassie graduated from the 8th grade at Buffalo, Harper, Oklahoma. Buffalo is about 40 miles northeast of Gage.<br /><br />26) On 2 Feb 1924, William officiated at the marriage of his daughter, Golda Emmer Proffitt, to Lester R. Curtis in Buffalo, Harper, Oklahoma.<br /><br />27) William's oldest son, Nathaniel Foster Proffitt, married Rose Mae Dunning on 15 Mar 1924 in Alva, Woods, Oklahoma. William did not officiate. The marriage was officiated by a judge. <br /><br />28) In May 1925, daughter Hassie graduated from Ingersoll High School in Ingersoll, Alfalfa, Oklahoma.<br /><br />29) William's son, John William Proffitt, married Gertrude Carey on 11 Nov 1926. The marriage record has not yet been located. The source for this date is a handwritten family history by John's sister, Hassie. <b><span style="color: red;">UPDATE: I have located John and Gertrude in an online Tulsa County marriage index. This makes sense because Gertrude's family lived in neighboring Washington County.</span></b><br /><br />30) In May 1929, daughter Bessie graduated from Mulhall High School in Mulhall, Logan, Oklahoma. Mulhall is about 110 miles southeast of Ingersoll.<br /><br />31) On 2 Jun 1929, William officiated at the wedding of his daughter, Kathrine Elizabeth Proffitt, to Clarence Hobart Marshall in Mulhall.<br /><br />32) On 1 Apr 1930, William and Emmer were enumerated at Mannford, Creek, Oklahoma. His occupation was Methodist pastor. The only child in the household was daughter, Bessie, age 18. Mannford is about 63 miles east of Mulhall.<br /><br />33) William's daughter, Hassie, married Merlen Paris Mertena on 14 Feb 1931 in Mulhall. A newspaper marriage announcement listed her parents' residence as Hollister, Tillman, Oklahoma. Hollister is about 224 miles southwest of Mannford.<br /><br />34) Daughter Hassie had a son, William John Mertena, born 20 Aug 1931 at Frederick, Tillman, Oklahoma. According to my grandmother, Hassie's daughter, she had William in Frederick while she was staying at the home of her parents.<br /><br />35) While serving the Methodist church at Quinlan, Woodward, Oklahoma, in 1934, William retired from the ministry due to ill health. The source for this is his obituary published in the West Oklahoma Annual Conference Journal for 1944.<br /><br />36) On 1 Apr 1940, William and Emmer were enumerated at Mounds, Creek, Oklahoma. His occupational status was listed as Other. The census record stated that he owned the home he lived in and that he and Emmer had lived in the same house in 1935.<br /><br />37) According to William's death certificate and Emmer's obituary, they moved to Waynoka, Woods, Oklahoma, around 1942-1943. Their oldest daughter, Golda, lived in Waynoka.<br /><br />38) Daughter, Bessie Frances Proffitt, married Lealand Jack Kruse on 23 May 1942. No marriage record has yet been found. The source is a handwritten family history by Hassie, as well as Bessie and Jack's obituaries. Bessie was living with her sister, Golda, in Waynoka in the 1940 census. However, neither Bessie nor Jack are listed in the general index for Woods County marriages.<span style="color: red;"><b>UPDATE: A professional researcher in Oklahoma located the marriage announcement of Bessie and Jack. It stated that they married in Garber, Garfield, Oklahoma. I do not know why they married several counties away from where they both lived in 1942.</b></span><br /><br />39) William died at the age of 72 in Alva, Woods, Oklahoma, on 3 Jul 1944 from gall bladder complications. He was buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery on 6 Jul 1944. I believe the I.O.O.F. Cemetery is now called Memorial Hill Cemetery. According to his death certificate, he lived at 316 Waynoka St. in Waynoka at the time of his death.<br /><br />40) Emmer died at the age of 73 on 5 Jul 1949 in Waynoka from a heart attack. She was buried 7 Jul 1949 at the I.O.O.F Cemetery in Waynoka.<br /><br />Wow, that is a lot of information that I need to process. However, I think it has helped me to see the family's movements over the years. With so many places, it gets complicated at times to view it in RootsMagic. This timeline, along with other sources, will help me to narrow down possible locations for missing marriage records for William and Emmer's children.<br /><br /><br />http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/09/william-harmon-proffitt-timeline.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-1139345699826554547Sun, 04 May 2014 06:11:00 +00002014-05-04T10:34:04.690-05:00SNGF: How Many Cousins Do You Know You Have?Randy at Genea-Musings has challenged us to another Saturday night of genealogy fun. Tonight's mission is:<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;">1) &nbsp;Take both sets of your grandparents and figure out how many first cousins you have, and how many first cousins removed (a child or grandchild of a first cousin) you have.</span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;">2) &nbsp;Extra Credit: &nbsp;Take all four sets of your great-grandparents and figure out how many second cousins you have, and how many second cousins removed you have.</span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;">HINT: &nbsp;Make a Descendants Chart with your genealogy software program!</span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;">3) &nbsp;Tell us the grandparents and great-grandparents names, but don't give the name of living cousins unless you want to. &nbsp;</span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;">4) &nbsp;Are there any of those lines that you don't know all of the cousins names? &nbsp;Do you care? &nbsp;</span></b></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;">5) &nbsp;Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post of your own. &nbsp;Be sure to drop a comment to this post to link to your work.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">My paternal grandparents are Benford Maurice Trahan and Merlene Golda Mertena. They had four sons.&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My dad is the oldest. He has three children: myself, my sister, and my brother. My sister has 2 children, a daughter and a son. My brother and I do not have any children yet.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle D has 2 children, a son and a daughter. His son has one son. His daughter does not have any children yet.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle B does not have any children.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle T has two children, a son and a daughter. Neither of them has any children yet.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">All in all, I have four first cousins and one first cousin once removed on my paternal side.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">My maternal grandparents were John Peter Pemberton and Violet Mae Currie. They had eight children.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle John (1950-2011) had one son. He has two children, a son and a daughter.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Aunt D has three children, two daughters and one son. Her oldest daughter has one stepdaughter. Her son has two sons. Her youngest daughter has three sons.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle G has three children, a son and two daughters. His son has one daughter. His daughters do not have any children yet.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle S has four sons. His oldest son has two sons and a daughter. None of his other sons have children yet.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle B does not have any biological children. He has two stepchildren, one of whom is actually married to my Uncle S's oldest son (we like to keep it in the family). His stepson does not have any children yet.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Uncle M does not have any biological children either. He has three stepchildren, one stepson and two stepdaughters. They have numerous children, but I am not sure how many.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">My Aunt G has three daughters. Her oldest daughter has four children, one son and three daughters. Her middle daughter has three children, two daughters and one son.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">All in all, on my maternal side, there are 14 biological first cousins and 5 first step-cousins. There are 18 first cousins once removed and one first step-cousin once removed.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Now just to confuse matters on my maternal side, after my grandfather died, my grandmother married my bonus grandpa (or what some people would call a step grandpa), Clifford Robert Drouillard. He had four children from a previous marriage, three daughters and one son.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">His oldest daughter has two sons, but I am not sure how many children each of them have.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">His second oldest daughter has three children, two daughters and a son. Her oldest daughter has three sons, her son has a daughter, and her youngest daughter has a son.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">His son has two children, a daughter and a son. His daughter has two sons. I am not sure if his son has any children.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">His youngest daughter has two children, a son and a daughter. Her son has a daughter. Her daughter has two children, a son and a daughter.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">So that now makes 9 additional first step-cousins and 10 known first step-cousins once removed.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">It does bother me that I don't have all the names of some of my first step-cousins once removed. All I need to do is ask questions!</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">My paternal grandfather's parents were Bienvenue Trahan and Beatrice Marie Boneaux. They only had one child, my grandfather, Benford. So I do not have any first cousins or first cousins once removed on this side.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">My paternal grandmother's parents were Merlen Paris Mertena and Hassie Cora Proffitt. They had four children, two boys and two girls.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Their oldest son, William John Mertena (1931-2001), had four daughters and one son. His oldest daughter has one daughter. His second daughter has a son and a daughter. His third daughter has one daughter. His fourth daughter has two sons and one daughter. His son does not have any children.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The second child, was my grandmother, Merlene, who had four sons mentioned above.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The third child, Joseph Henry Mertena (1941-1998), had one daughter. She has two daughters.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The fourth child, Jill, does not have any children.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">This results in six first cousins once removed and nine second cousins on my paternal side.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">My maternal grandfather's parents were John Vital Pemberton and Mabel Ellen Crysler. They had 10 children, four sons and six daughters.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Their oldest son was my maternal grandather, John Peter Pemberton, mentioned above, who had eight children.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The second child is Eva Mae Pemberton (1930-2012). She had three children, two sons and a daughter. Her youngest son has two children, a son and a daughter. I do not know if they have any children. I don't think her daughter had any children. Her oldest son died in a motorbike accident at age 14.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The third child is Uncle B. He does not have any children.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The fourth child is Theodore Lewis Pemberton (1932-1935). He died at age 3 from whooping cough.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The fifth child is Franklin Mearl Pemberton (1931-2008). He had two children, a son and a daughter. His daughter has three children, two daughters and a son. I don't think his son has any biological children. He may have some stepchildren, but I do not know how many.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The sixth child is Evelyn Marie Pemberton (1936-1948). She died at the age of 11 from complications due to epilepsy.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The seventh child is Aunt N. She has seven children, four daughters and three sons. I don't know how many children they all have.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The eighth child is Aunt B #1. She has seven children, five daughters and two sons. Her oldest daughter, R.P. #1, has three children, two sons, D.P. and J.P., and one daughter, E.P. D.P. has one son, J.P. has two daughters and a son, and E.P. has two sons. Aunt B's second daughter, R.P. #2, has four children, one son, R.P. and three daughters, L.P., B.P. #1, B.P. #2. R.P. has two sons, L.P. has three sons and one daughter, and one of the B.P.'s has a daughter and two sons. The other B.P. does not have any children. Aunt B's oldest son, W.P., has one son, who has one son. Aunt B's third daughter, R.P. #3, has one son and one daughter. Her daughter has a daughter and a son. Her son does not have any children. Aunt B's fourth daughter, B.J.P., does not have any children. Aunt B's fifth daughter, D.P., has one daughter. Aunt B's youngest son, D.P., has two sons. Keep in mind I'm not sure if all this is 100% accurate. I interviewed Aunt B and one of her daughters back in 2007 when I was visiting, but there may have been more kids born since then.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The ninth child is Aunt B #2. She does not have any children.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">The tenth child is Mary Margaret Pemberton, who died at the age of 23 from epilepsy. She was never married.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Then after John Vital Pemberton died in 1950, my great-grandmother, Mabel Ellen Crysler, married a second time to Daniel Robert Beedon. They had one son together, who has two children. I'm not sure how many children they both have. </span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">All in all, that is 19 first cousins once removed, two half-first cousins once removed, 18 known second cousins (and lots of unknown), and 18 known second cousins once removed (and lots of unknown). </span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple;">My maternal grandmother's parents were Archie Currie and Jennie Grace Christina Plaine.</span> They only had one child, my grandmother, Violet Mae Currie, so there are no first cousins on this side.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Well, that was a fun exercise. Now I know who I need to interview (or re-interview). </span></span></span></span><br /><br />http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/05/sngf-how-many-cousins-do-you-know-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-3428166656894051557Mon, 20 Jan 2014 03:08:00 +00002014-01-19T21:08:38.656-06:0052 AncestorsBoneaux52 Ancestors: #3 Maurice BONEAUXAmy Johnson Crow at <a href="http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/" target="_blank">No Story Too Small</a> has challenged the genea-blogging community to blog about one ancestor per week in a series called <i>52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks</i>. This week I will blog about my 2x great-grandfather, Maurice BONEAUX. He was the maternal grandfather and namesake of my paternal grandfather, Benford Maurice TRAHAN. He died just six months before Benford was born. Maurice has always intrigued me because of the family stories told about him and the fact that his paternal line was not Cajun French. Three out of the four 2x great-grandparents on my paternal grnadfather's side are Cajun French. Maurice is the only one who isn't.<br /><br />The family story is that his father came over directly from France as a stowaway on a ship. I have not determined whether the stowaway part is true, but records do support the fact that his father was born in France. Maurice's son-in-law, my great-grandfather, Bienvenue TRAHAN, was very fond of Maurice. According to Bienvenue, Maurice never ceased to amaze him as he went from one business opportunity to another during the Great Depression, always making money. He told stories about Maurice selling gambling machines to various businesses. Bienvenue would be the lookout that stayed in the car to protect the money as Maurice went from business to business collecting his share of the gambling machine profits. He also told stories about Maurice selling cars. He would drive around until he saw a bunch of kids hanging out on the porch and then ask them if they wanted to see his car. Then he would tell the kids that they needed to help him get their dad to buy the car. <br /><br />Here are the facts I know about Maurice:<br /><ul><li>According to a transcription of baptismal records from St. John's Cathedral in Lafayette, Louisiana, Maurice was born 13 Aug 1883 to Dominique BONEAUX and Marie Alida MOUTON.&nbsp; He was the third and youngest child born to Dominique and Alida.</li><li>On 10 Sep 1908, 25-year-old Maurice married 17-year-old Marie Alice SONNIER, daughter of Numa SONNIER and Marie Edmonia DOMINGUE, at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Carencro, Lafayette, Louisiana.&nbsp;</li><li>Marie Florine BONEAUX was born 11 months later to Maurice and Marie Alice on 7 Aug 1909 and baptized 2 Sep 1909 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana.&nbsp;</li><li>Sadly, Marie Florine died three weeks later and was buried on 19 Sep 1909. She was buried in the same church cemetery where she was baptized.&nbsp;</li><li>Maurice and Marie Alice are found living in Police Jury Ward 1 of Lafayette Parish in the 1910 census. Funnily enough, the family stories about Maurice always trying new business opportunities is supported by his occupation on the census. He is listed as a barber, farmer, and salesman. They lived next door to Maurice's parents and his older brother, Joseph. </li><li>My great-grandmother, Beatrice Marie BONEAUX, was born to Maurice and Marie Alice on 26 Aug 1910. She was baptized on 1 Oct 1910 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.</li><li>In Sep 1918, Maurice registered for the WWI draft. He was living in Scott and listed his occupation as a self-employed farmer.</li><li>In 1920, Maurice, Marie Alice, and Beatrice are found in Police Jury Ward 1 of Lafayette Parish. Maurice's occupation was a self-employed farmer. There was a 15-year-old black male named Joe Green who was also living in the household. His occupation was given as servant for a private family. I presume he must have worked for the family, possibly helping out on the farm.&nbsp;</li><li>In 1930, Maurice, Marie Alice, Beatrice, and now Bienvenue TRAHAN were found in Police Jury Ward 1. Beatrice and Bienvenue had married just a year earlier on 14 Sep 1929. Maurice had no occupation listed. Bienvenue was listed as an unemployed laborer of odd jobs.&nbsp;</li><li>Maurice died at the age of 51 on 5 Sep 1934 in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana, from tuberculosis. He was buried the following day in the Sts. Peter and Paul church cemetery. Sadly, he never got to meet his only grandchild who would be named for him 6 months later.</li><li>Maurice's wife, Marie Alice, continued to live on the family land for several more years. The land is still owned by my dad and his brothers today. It's about 40 acres of land just outside Scott. Maurice and Marie Alice's house is still standing (albeit in not so great condition).&nbsp; </li></ul>Maurice sounds like such an interesting person from the records and family stories. I would like to find some newspapers from the time period to see if he was ever mentioned. I imagine he would have made some good headlines. http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/52-ancestors-3-maurice-boneaux.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-4405682045010738862Sun, 12 Jan 2014 23:30:00 +00002014-01-12T17:43:58.120-06:0052 AncestorsPrejean52 Ancestors: #2 Virginia PREJEANAmy Johnson Crow at <a href="http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/" target="_blank">No Story Too Small</a> has challenged the genea-blogging community to blog about one ancestor per week in a series called <i>52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks</i>.This week I will blog about my great-great-grandmother, Virginia PREJEAN. She was my paternal grandfather's paternal grandmother.<br /><br />For the first ten years or so of my research, I did not know what happened to Virginia after she and my great-great-grandfather, <a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/52-ancestors-1-oscar-trahan.html" target="_blank">Oscar TRAHAN</a>, divorced. I found her on the 1920 census living with her parents and she seemed to disappear after that. I had gotten all of my information on her from my paternal grandmother, and I had no death date/place. She said that after the divorce, my great-grandfather was raised in several different homes, including those of his grandparents, so I guess I just assumed that Virginia abandoned the family.<br /><br />One day while looking through the SSDI for all Virginia's born on her birth date, I found one named Virginia SCHENKEL. Her last benefit address was in the same part of Louisiana as my Virginia. I asked for some help on a local message board for Acadia Parish, and someone transcribed her obit for me. Sure enough, my great-grandfather, Bienvenue TRAHAN, was listed as a surviving son. To my surprise, there were other children listed as well. I even found a former neighbor of her's on the message board who told me some stories about her. She said that she never wore a bra and lived in a little old shack in Crowley. She said that they called her T-Mom and she only spoke Cajun French.<br /><br />These are the facts that I know about Virginia:<br /><ul><li>According to transcriptions of baptismal records, she was baptized at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Carencro, Lafayette, Louisiana, and she was born 12 Jul 1889 to Lucien (aka Paul Lucius) PREJEAN and Alicia BERNARD. She was the third of twelve known children. I need to order a copy of the actual baptismal record from the Diocesan Archives.&nbsp;</li><li>At the age of 18, she married Oscar TRAHAN on 18 Jan 1908 at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana. I need to order a copy of the civil marriage record.</li><li>She gave birth to my great-grandfather 9 months later on 26 Oct 1908.</li><li>In 1910, she and Oscar and Bienvenue are found on the census in Police Jury Ward 2 of St. Landry Parish. They lived just two doors down from her parents. She was listed as a field hand.</li><li>According to Oscar's WWI draft registration in 1917, he was supporting a wife and child and lived in Vatican, Lafayette, Louisiana.</li><li>In 1920, Virginia is found alone with her parents in Police Jury Ward 2 of St. Landry Parish. The family story is that Oscar and Virginia divorced, so I assume they must have divorced between 1917 and 1920. I need to find a copy of their divorce record, if there really was a divorce.</li><li>According to an online index for marriages in Acadia Parish, Virginia Prejean Trahan married Louis SCHENKEL on 04 Nov 1932. I need to order a copy of the actual record. I have not found Louis or Virginia in the 1930 census.&nbsp;</li><li>In 1940, Louis and Virginia are found living in Gray Addition in Crowley, Acadia, Louisiana. Louis was a construction worker. They had three children in the household: daughter, Dorley Schenkel, age 16; son, Claude Schenkel, age 13; and son, Louis Schenkel, age 7. Interestingly, Louis (Sr) was 10 years younger than Virginia.</li><li>Louis SCHENKEL (Sr.) died in Feb 1973, according to the SSDI. I need to order a copy of his obit.</li><li>Virginia died 3 Mar 1977 at the age of 87 from a heart attack at her home in Crowley. She was buried in Old Crowley Cemetery. &nbsp; </li></ul>The missing piece of the puzzle for me is the period between 1920 and 1932. What was Virginia up to in those years? She obviously was having children. I found out from the former neighbor that her son Claude's name was actually Claude DOMINGUE. According to the SSDI and a WWII draft card, he was born 11 May 1926 in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana, and died 17 Aug 1994. I'm not sure who Claude's father, Mr. Domingue, was. I doubt Virginia was ever married to him because she still had the last name Trahan when she married Louis SCHENKEL.<br /><br />I also found out that her youngest son, Louis SCHENKEL, had a skin disease and died in Mar 1993. According to the SSDI, he was born 06 Nov 1932, just two days after her marriage to his father.<br /><br />I found out the daughter's married name and contact info, though I have not tried to contact her recently. My grandmother contacted her once, but she was not feeling well, and I was short on time during a break from college, so I did not get to meet her. I know I should look into contacting her again if she is still living.<br /><br />And that, folks, is all I know about Virginia. Some other things on my to-do list are to order her succession papers from the Acadia Parish Clerk of Court, search Acadia Parish land records for her and Louis SCHENKEL, and search St. Landry/Lafayette Parish land records for her and Oscar TRAHAN.&nbsp; <br /><br /><br />http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/52-ancestors-2-virginia-prejean.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-2819570586560161462Mon, 06 Jan 2014 00:54:00 +00002014-01-05T18:59:22.751-06:0052 AncestorsTrahan52 Ancestors: #1 Oscar TrahanAmy Johnson Crow at <a href="http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/" target="_blank">No Story Too Small</a> has challenged the genea-blogging community to blog about one ancestor per week in a series called <i>52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks</i>. I am not sure if I will really be able to keep up with this each week due to starting a new job, buying a house, joining a gym, etc. But, hey, I will try to do so every Sunday. Since I am currently working very hard on getting sources documented and more complete research done for my 16 great-great-grandparents, I decided I will start off by blogging about my 2x great-grandfather, Oscar Trahan. He is my father's father's father's father, or my paternal grandfather's paternal grandfather. Sadly, I have no pictures of Oscar. He was in and out of the family's life and the family was very poor. Here is what I know about Oscar:<br /><br /><ul><li>According to his baptismal record from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rayne, Acadia, Louisiana, he was born either 7 Sep 1889 or 17 Oct 1889 to Theoville TRAHAN and Anna WISE. I say either one of two dates because it looks like 7 Sep 1889 was originally written, and then Sep was crossed out and Oct written above it. The 1 in front of the 7 looks like it was added after the fact because it was in a darker ink. His godparents were Theodore ROBER and Dorrna BERTRAND. I'm not sure of their relation to the family just yet.</li><li>At the age of 18, he married my 2x great-grandmother, Virginia PREJEAN, at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana, on 18 Jan 1908. &nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Exactly 9 months later, Virginia gave birth to their honeymoon baby, my great-grandfather, Bienvenue TRAHAN on 26 Oct 1908. </li><li>Oscar and Virginia are found in the 1910 census in the 2nd Police Jury Ward in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Little Bienvenue was in the household as well. Oscar was listed as a farmer. They lived next door to Oscar's parents and 2 doors down from Virginia's parents.&nbsp;</li><li>Oscar's WWI draft registration, dated 5 Jun 1917 states that he was born 7 Sep 1889 in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. He was living in Vatican, Louisiana, and working as a farmer. He listed his dependents as a wife and child.</li><li>Just three years later in 1920, Virginia is found living with her parents in the 2nd Police Jury Ward in St. Landry Parish. There is no mention of Oscar or Bienvenue in the household. I have not been able to find them in the 1920 census. The family story is that Oscar abandoned her. Supposedly he was working down in Iberia Parish and was taking the train back home to St. Landry Parish when one day, he got drunk playing cards with guys on the train and missed his stop. He rode all the way to Dallas before he got off. When he finally made it back home, Virginia told him to go away, and he did. </li><li>Oscar moved to Texas and on New Year's Eve in 1921, he married Bertha DUHON in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Harris, Texas. Bertha was another transplanted Louisianian from Acadia Parish living in Texas and was 14 years younger than Oscar.</li><li>In 1930, Oscar and Bertha are found in Justice Precinct 3 of Harris County. Oscar was working in an oil refinery. They did not have any children. </li><li>By 1934, Oscar and Bertha had made their way back to Louisiana. They were living at 320 Railroad Ave. in Lake Charles, according to the city directory. No occupation was listed for Oscar. </li><li>Oscar and Bertha are found in Lake Charles at 723 Railroad Ave. in 1936 and 1212 Gieffers St. in 1937. Again, no occupation was listed.</li><li>In 1939, Oscar and Bertha purchased a piece of property for $200 from Charles E. and Gertie (Faulk) Williams. The property was located at 1102 N. Blake St. in Lake Charles. According to city directories, WWII draft registration cards, and census records, this is where they remained until their deaths. Oscar never had an occupation listed in any of the remaining city directories, and his WWII draft registration stated that he was under the care of a doctor.</li><li>In 1952, Oscar and Bertha sold part of their property to Ernestine Myers for $400.</li><li>Bertha died from acute pulmonary adema at the age of 54 on 28 Apr 1957 at the charity hospital in Lafayette. She was buried in Prien Lake Memorial Park in Lake Charles on 29 Apr 1957. Survivors in her obit were listed as her husband, Oscar, and three sisters. No children were mentioned.</li><li>&nbsp;Oscar died from cerebral thrombosis at the age of 72 on 5 Aug 1962 at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. He was buried 6 Aug 1962 at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana.&nbsp;</li><li>Sadly, no succession papers were filed for Oscar when he died. His property on N. Blake St. was later sold at auction due to unpaid property taxes after his death.&nbsp;</li></ul>While it seems I may know a lot about Oscar, the sad truth is that I don't really know a whole lot. What happened to him and Virginia? Is the train story true? Where was he in 1920? Did he and Virginia ever get divorced? How did he pay for a house when he had no job? Did he have some sort of retirement from working in the oil refineries in Baytown? Did he lose all contact with the family when he moved to Texas? If so, when did he reunite with his son, my great-grandfather? What prompted him to move to Lake Charles? Why were no succession papers filed? Did no one care about Oscar's property? <br /><br />My to-do list for Oscar involves obtaining a copy of the civil marriage record for Oscar and Virginia (I have the church record), searching for a divorce record for them in St. Landry Parish, and searching for Oscar and Virginia in the land records of Lafayette and St. Landry Parishes prior to 1920. I should probably look for him in the land records of Harris County, Texas, as well. Maybe I need to dig around a little more in city/county directories for Harris County and Lake Charles. <br /><br />Well, that was a fun challenge. Now I have a clearer picture of my research so far on Oscar and where I need to look next. Happy Hunting!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/52-ancestors-1-oscar-trahan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-3294969850118120423Sun, 05 Jan 2014 22:07:00 +00002014-01-05T16:07:39.285-06:00Happy New Year!Wow, time has flown! I did not post anything from mid-October through the end of the year. My life got kind of crazy around mid-October. In October, I resigned from my Accounting Manager position with my previous employer and accepted a new position as Controller for several dental practices and a real estate business, so that has kept me pretty busy. I absolutely love my new job and never thought I would finally land somewhere where I could see myself long-term. Now that I'm finally settling down in my career, we've also started looking into buying a house. So there has been little time for genealogy research and blogging.<br /><br />I would like to give some New Year's resolutions for my genealogy research and blogging, but let's be honest. With a new job and buying a house, I won't hit any of them. I will be too busy. I forgot to mention that I also joined a gym. So, no, I don't have time to blog much or do much research these days.<br /><br />So what little have I been doing in the way of genealogy research?<br /><br />I've been trucking along on my goals to get all of the sources documented and have more complete research done for all of my 16 great-great-grandparents and their descendants. As I am researching them, I've been trying to reorganize my paper filing system for them. I need to catch up on the paper files. I am currently on my Proffitt great-great-grandparents. These are my paternal grandmother's maternal grandparents. They are actually my first set of great-great-grandparents on the ahnentafel chart that had more than one child together. Weird, I know. So it has taken me a bit longer to research their descendants.<br /><br />Other than that, I have not been doing much. Although I will not be doing resolutions right now, I would like to accept the challenge by <a href="http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/" target="_blank">Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small to blog about an ancestor each week.</a> Her challenge is called "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks."&nbsp; My first post will be today, Sunday, January 5. I will try to write a post each Sunday. Not sure how realistic that is, but we'll see.http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/happy-new-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-8173248475087794432Thu, 10 Oct 2013 03:43:00 +00002014-01-19T20:01:53.545-06:00BirthdaysMost Popular Date: November 20Nancy over at <a href="http://nancysfamilyhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-most-common-date-9.html?showComment=1381373386945#c93463199077948264" target="_blank"><i>My Ancestors and Me</i></a> posted today about a popular date in her database, which just so happened to be today's date, October 9. She had 5 relatives who were either born, married, or died on this date. She asked her readers if they had a popular date as well. I had no idea, so I decided to do a little research.<br /><br />First, I ran the Birthday and Anniversary List in RootsMagic. I saved it as a text file and then opened it in Excel. To separate the day/month from the year, I did some text-to-column work. Then I did a Pivot Table to see how many names showed up for each date. Of course, this did not have the death information included, so I created a custom report for the death dates of individuals in RootsMagic and then opened that in Excel as well. Creating the report was a little tricky because I had to figure out a way to tell the program to only include people with a full death date (i.e. not just a year). In the Search for Information box, I chose Death value is greater than or equal to 01 Jan. This seemed to do the trick.<br /><br />My database has 4,149 people in it. The most popular date was....November 20! There were 19 birth, marriage, and death events that occurred on November 20. The second most popular date was March 5, with 14 birth and marriage events.<br /><br />George HARGRAVE and Anastasie Aspasie TRAHAN were married 20 Nov 1829.<br />Edmond TRAHAN was born 20 Nov 1832.<br />Ursin Theomile PREJEAN and Adenysa LEGER were married 20 Nov 1854.<br />Wesley FINKLE died 20 Nov 1887. <br />Jules DOMINGUE and Adolphine BEGNAUD were married 20 Nov 1890.<br />Charles H. CHATTERSON was born 20 Nov 1891.<br />Lloyd Jay BASNEY was born 20 Nov 1892.<br />William J. CHATTERSON and Euphemia T. SPABEN were married 20 Nov 1900.<br />Felix TRAHAN was born 20 Nov 1901.<br />Jesse WARD and Rosanna Alphonsine PLONKEY were married 20 Nov 1909.<br />Leon A. CHATTERSON and Alma Albertine PLONKEY were married 20 Nov 1909.<br />Lillia TRAHAN was born 20 Nov 1912.<br />Eunice E. PEMBERTON was born 20 Nov 1919.<br />R.H.G. (living) was born 20 Nov 1945.<br />Cheryl Lee BERGERON was born 20 Nov 1947.<br />Chester Franklin FINK and Patricia U. KELLEY were married 20 Nov 1965.<br />G.A.P. and B.J.A. (living) were married 20 Nov 1971.<br />G.E.H. (living) was born 20 Nov 1978.<br />A.J.P. (living) was born 20 Nov 2007.<br /><br />I will post more on each of these people, at least the non-living ones, at a later date. It will probably be several posts over a period of time. Thanks again, Nancy, for the idea!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/most-popular-date-november-20.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-5620942127815926549Thu, 03 Oct 2013 04:18:00 +00002013-10-02T23:22:23.883-05:00BirthdaysCarnahanSemi-Random Birthday ResearchI decided to do some quick random research today by looking for everyone in my database who was born on today's date, October 2, and list all the facts I have so far about them. I found two people. The first was Ruth CARNAHAN. The other was a living person, so I will not post anything about him here.<br /><br />So, what do I know about Ruth?<br /><br />1) She was the sister of my great-grandfather's brother-in-law. Ruth's older brother, Leo Clayton CARNAHAN, married Madeline Marion PEMBERTON, the younger sister of my great-grandfather, John Vital PEMBERTON. Ruth and Leo were the children of Joseph Lee CARNAHAN and Anna L. SCHEFFLER. <br /><br />2) Ruth E. CARNAHAN was listed in the 1930 census in the home of her parents, Lee and Anna L. CARNAHAN, at 1518 Miller St. in Port Huron, St. Clair, Michigan. Ruth's age was given as 1y 5m in 1930. This would put her birth date roughly around Oct 1928. She was the youngest child of Lee and Anna. Her birthplace was given as Michigan. Her father was a truck driver for an oil refinery.&nbsp; <br /><br />3) Her brother Leo's obituary from 1984 lists her as Ruth GARDNER. Her residence was given as Port Huron.<br /><br />2) I found a Ruth Y. GARDNER in the SSDI who was born 2 Oct 1928 and died 2 Sep 2010. Her last residence was given as Port Huron. <br /><br />As I wrote this, I decided to see if I could find an obituary for the Ruth in the SSDI to see if she was in fact the same Ruth as the sister of Leo CARNAHAN. Sure enough, I was able to verify this at <i>Legacy.com</i>. Her obituary was published in the <i>Times Herald</i> in Port Huron from 3 Sep 2010 to 5 Sep 2010. If you would like to see Ruth's obituary, along with a picture, click <a href="http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimesherald/obituary.aspx?n=ruth-carnahan-gardner&amp;pid=145050050#fbLoggedOut" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />If you want further info about Ruth or her siblings, my cousin Steve CARNAHAN, son of Leo and Madeleine, has more info in his <a href="http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/11443370/person/-448277104" target="_blank">online family tree</a> at Ancestry.com. Happy Hunting!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/semi-random-birthday-research.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-5763457598361827454Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:32:00 +00002013-09-30T21:45:56.303-05:00MertenaRootsMagicHow To Handle Residence FactsI have a dilemma. I thought blogging about it might help. From time to time, I struggle with how to include Residence facts in my RootsMagic database. Within the RootsMagic program, there is already a built-in fact type called Residence and one called Residence (Family). It's very helpful to use this fact type because it can help you trace a family from town to town or state to state over a given period of time.<br /><br />Being able to trace a family's locations helps one to find additional records in a location one might not have already considered. For instance, I was always told that my dad's maternal uncle, Bill Mertena, and wife and children moved from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Washington well before I was born. I knew that he lived in Olympia, Washington, when I was a teenager and up until the time he died in 2001. However, I did not know that in between Lake Charles and Olympia he had actually lived in Seattle, and possibly Spokane, as well. I was reading his obituary and read that he had worked for the <i>Associated Press</i> in Spokane, Seattle, and Olympia between 1963 and 1987. I then found a birth announcement for his youngest daughter in the <i>Seattle Daily Times</i> at <i>GenealogyBank</i>, which gave his address in Seattle in 1966.<br /><br />So what exactly is my problem? Well, some sources, such as a city directory or the birth announcement, list an exact street address. Some sources, such as a sibling's obituary, list only a city and state as the residence, and some only list the state as a residence. If the source does not specifically give the street address of the residence, but other sources in the same timeframe do, can I use the source that does not give the address as a citation for the residence fact that includes the street address? In other words, can I create a residence fact that states "Person A lived at 123 Main St. in Seattle, Washington" and cite the 1930 and 1935 city directories giving the address, as well as the person's sibling's obituary from 1933, which lists the residence only as Seattle, Washington?<br /><br />I think it is reasonable to think that if the person lived there in 1930 and 1935, then surely he lived in the same house when his sibling died in 1933. However, we don't know for certain, because there is always a chance that the husband and wife had separated and maybe were living apart temporarily, or that the family owned multiple houses that they moved between frequently.<br /><br />Currently, this is what I have as residence facts and source citations in my RM database for Uncle Bill (as both of his spouses are still living, their names have been removed to protect privacy):<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KFnhvh1QK-U/UkoiTIsv-tI/AAAAAAAAArU/6Mqtt86Peuw/s1600/Uncle_Bill_Residence.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KFnhvh1QK-U/UkoiTIsv-tI/AAAAAAAAArU/6Mqtt86Peuw/s400/Uncle_Bill_Residence.png" width="318" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>1956</b>: 102 East Beech St, Sulphur, Calcasieu, Louisiana (Source: Lake Charles City Directory) (This was the home of his parents)<br /><br /><b>1957</b>: Westfork Rd., Westlake, Calcasieu, Louisiana (Source: Lake Charles City Directory)<br /><br /><b>1958</b>: 102 East Beech St, Sulphur, Calcasieu, Louisiana (Source: Lake Charles City Directory)<br /><br /><b>1959-60</b>: 914 S. Division St., Lake Charles, Calcasieu, Louisiana (Source: Lake Charles City Directory) <br /><br /><b>1963-2001</b>: Washington (Sources: <b>1)</b> 2001 obituary published in <i>The Olympian</i>, which listed three cities of residence in Washington from 1963 until 1987; and<b> 2)</b> his brother Tony's obituary published in the <i>Lake Charles American Press</i> in 1998, which listed his residence simply as Washington state)<br /><br /><b>Jan 1966</b>: 637 N.W. 84th St, Seattle, Washington (source: daughter's birth announcement published in the <i>Seattle Daily Times</i>)<br /><br /><b>1967-2001</b>: Thurston County, Washington (Sources: <b>1)</b> Death certificate listing his length of stay in Thurston County as 34 years; <b>2)</b> His mother's obituary published in the <i>Lake Charles American Press</i> in 1986, which specifically lists his residence as Olympia; and&nbsp; <b>3)</b> His father's obituary published in the <i>Lake Charles American Press</i> in 1989, which specifically lists his residence as Olympia)<br /><br /><b>Oct 1986</b>: 113 E. 18th, Olympia, Thurston, Washington (Source: Divorce certificate)<br /><br /><b>Oct 2001</b>: 4931 Sunrise Beach Rd. NW, Olympia, Thurston, Washington (source: Death certificate)<br /><br />It looks like I have been using separate facts to cite each event more precisely, but that causes a little bit of clogging on the Edit Person screen and Individual Report. As you can see, lots of these dates overlap with other dates. Hmm...what to do?<br /><br />I think the facts for 1957-1960 are fine, since there is a one-to-one correlation between the fact and the source. Each source lists the exact street address. When we get to 1963, it gets a bit more complicated. We know from his obituary that he worked for the <i>Associated Press</i> in Spokane, Seattle, and Olympia from 1963-1987. However, we don't know exactly what years he lived in each city. He likely moved to Olympia around 1967 and stayed there until his death, according to the death certificate. This means that he likely lived in Seattle and Spokane between 1963 and 1966. We know he lived in Seattle in January 1966 when his daughter was born. <br /><br />One option would be to delete the facts that do not list specific addresses, but then we lose a lot of quality information that may get buried in the source documents. It's good information to know that he moved to Washington in 1963. It's also good information to know that he moved to Thurston County around 1967. It's good information because it helps narrow down the search for other types of sources, such as vital records, newspapers, city directories, church records, etc. My plan is to delete the fact types for the general residences, but then put the information about dates moved to Washington and specifically to Thurston County in the Notes section of the fact types listing specific addresses. <br /><br />This is what I have added to the notes of the residence fact from January 1966:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">His obituary states, "From 1963 to 1987 he wrote for the Associated Press in Spokane, Seattle, and Olympia, with most of that time spent reporting from Olympia on state government." This means that he likely moved to Washington in 1963. It is not clear exactly what city he moved to in 1963. His daughter's birth announcement states that he lived in Seattle in January 1966.</blockquote>&nbsp;This is what I have added to the notes of the residence fact from Oct 2001:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">His death certificate lists his length of stay in Thurston County as 34 years, which would suggest that he moved there in 1967. This makes sense, as his son's marriage license lists his birthplace as Olympia, Thurston, Washington. His son was born in March 1967. His daughter's birth announcement published in the Seattle Daily Times in January 1966 lists his residence as Seattle. Therefore, it makes sense that he moved to Olympia sometime between his daughter's birth in 1966 and his son's birth in 1967. His divorce certificate from 1986 lists his residence as Olympia, as do both his parents' obituaries from 1986 and 1989. His brother's obituary from 1998 lists his residence only as Washington state, though it is likely that he lived in Olympia, since he still lived there at the time of his death in 2001. </blockquote>&nbsp;I think this will work for me for now, but I am open to other suggestions. Please let me know if you have any ideas!!!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-handle-residence-facts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-4614170761593138724Sun, 22 Sep 2013 02:12:00 +00002013-09-21T21:17:44.804-05:00Saturday Night FunTrahanSNGF: How Many Children/Grandchildren in Your Birth Surname Line?Randy over at <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/09/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-how-many.html" target="_blank">GeneaMusings </a>has given us another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple;"><b>1) &nbsp;Consider your Birth Surname families - the ones from your father back through his father all the way back to the first of that surname in your family group sheets or genealogy database. &nbsp;List the father's name, and lifespan years.</b></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b><b>2) &nbsp;Use your paper charts or genealogy software program to create a Descendants chart (dropline or graphical) that provide the children and their children (i.e., up to the grandchildren of each father in the surname list).</b></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b><b>3) &nbsp;Count how many children they had (with all spouses), and the children of those children in your records and/or database. &nbsp;Add those numbers to the list. &nbsp;See my example below! &nbsp;[Note: Do not count the spouses of the children]</b></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b><b>4) &nbsp;What does this list of children and grandchildren tell you about these persons in your birth surname line? &nbsp;Does this task indicate areas that you need to do more research to fill out families and find potential cousins?</b></span><br /><span style="color: purple;"><b><br /></b><b>5) &nbsp;Tell us about it in your own blog post, or in a comment to this post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+.</b></span><br /><br /><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">1) My TRAHAN surname line is:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Michael David Trahan (1955- ) has 3 children and 2 grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Benford Maurice Trahan (1935-2009) had 4 children and 7 grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Bienvenue Trahan (1908-2006) had 1 child and 4 grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Oscar Trahan (1889-1962) had 1 child and 1 grandchild.&nbsp;</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Theoville Trahan (1852-1915) had 22 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Delphin Stainville Trahan (1826-1865) had 10 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Michel Trahan (1785-????) had 13 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Athanese Trahan (1753-1835) had 11 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Michel Trahan (1728-1784) had 4 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Rene Trahan (1693-1733) had 7 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Jean Charles Trahan (1668-1727) had 12 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Guillaume Trahan (1611-1682) had 7 children and ??? grandchildren.</span></li><li><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">Nicolas Trahan (1570-1669) had 8 children and ??? grandchildren.&nbsp;</span></li></ul><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;">&nbsp;2) See my Descendant List below for Nicolas Trahan. I created it using RootsMagic 6. You can see that I do have some grandchildren for Nicolas listed, but I did not include grandchildren in my counts in the list above beyond those of my gr-gr-grandfather. This is because I have not fully completed research on the extended branches of my TRAHAN ancestors. </span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FyEy8MjIRmM/Uj5PnucFH6I/AAAAAAAAAq0/9WFMotKjRQc/s1600/Nicolas+Trahan+Desc+List.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FyEy8MjIRmM/Uj5PnucFH6I/AAAAAAAAAq0/9WFMotKjRQc/s400/Nicolas+Trahan+Desc+List.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="color: blue;">3)&nbsp; See counts of children/grandchildren in list above.</span><br /><span style="color: blue;">4) The person with the most children is my 3x gr-grandfather, Theoville. He had 2 wives and one mistress. The list really shows me that I have a lot of research to do on the siblings of my direct line TRAHAN ancestors. I do not know all the grandchildren of many of my direct line ancestors. </span><span style="color: blue;">They did not seem to start slowing down with the number of children until the early 1900s with my gr-gr-grandfather, Oscar, who only had one child, who only had one child. I believe that my 7x great-grandfather, Michel, probably had more than 4 children, but the Acadian deportation makes it hard to follow family lines during this time period.</span>http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/sngf-how-many-childrengrandchildren-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-4679896397425375284Sun, 15 Sep 2013 01:46:00 +00002013-09-14T20:46:52.925-05:00Saturday Night FunSNGF: Semi-Random ResearchIt's time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! This works out well for me, as my husband is with his best friend and goddaughter at the LSU vs. Kent State game across town. I'm hanging out here at the house catching up on genealogy research. Randy Seaver's mission over at <a href="http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/09/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-do-some.html" target="_blank">Genea-Musings</a> is to do semi-random research. His instructions are as follows:<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">1)</span> &nbsp;</span></b></span><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="color: red;"></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">We're going to do a little bit of Semi-Random Research tonight...what is your first name? [This is the easy part!] </span></b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">My first name is Jennifer.</span></span><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"></span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b>2) &nbsp;Go to your family tree database of choice (you know, like RootsMagic, Reunion, Ancestry Member Tree), and determine who the first person in your alphabetical name index is with a surname starting with the first two letters of your first name (e.g., my first name is RAndall, so I'm looking for the first person with a surname starting with RA). &nbsp;[If there are no surnames with those first two letters, take the surname after that letter combination.]</b></span> <span style="color: blue;">The first person in my alphabetical name index who has a surname starting with the first two letters of my first name is August JEAN. </span><br /><br /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b>3) &nbsp;What do you know about this person based on your research? &nbsp;It's OK to do more if you need to - in fact, it's encouraged!</b></span> <span style="color: blue;">All I know about August JEAN is that he was the father of Leo Ralph JEAN and husband of Mary RALPH and that he was possibly born in Canada. <br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b>4) &nbsp;How are you related to this person, and why is s/he in your family tree?</b></span><span style="color: blue;"> I am not related to August JEAN. He was the father of Leo Ralph JEAN, who was the second husband of my second cousin 3x removed, Alberta A. BASNEY. Alberta was the daughter of Burton Eugene BASNEY and Essie Anna PHELPS. Essie was the daughter of Joseph Putnam PHELPS and Agnes Emma PEMBERTON. Agnes was the younger sister of my 3x great-grandfather, John PEMBERTON. </span></div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b></b></span></div><div>Although August is a VERY collateral relative, I will do a little semi-random research at <i>Ancestry.com</i> and <i>FamilySearch</i> to see what I can find on him. First, though, I need to evaluate what I already know about him and his associates. His son Leo's marriage record lists Leo's parents as August JEAN and Mary RALPH. The 1920 and 1930 census records list Leo's father's birthplace as Canada. The 1930 census specifically lists his birthplace as Canada French. The 1920 census listed his father's native tongue as English. Leo's mother's birthplace is listed as Michigan in 1920 and Canada French in 1930.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Leo's entries in the "Michigan Death Index, 1971-1996" database at <i>Ancestry.com</i> and the SSDI state that he was born 21 Nov 1897. His WWI draft registration states that he was born 21 Nov 1898. His marriage record states that he was born c. 1897 in New York. The 1920-1940 census records all give him an estimated birth date between 1897 and 1898 and a birthplace of New York. All in all, his birth is stated pretty consistently throughout all of his records. He married Alberta A. BASNEY on 25 Oct 1919 in Detroit. They are found in city directories through 1921 in Detroit. In 1930 and 1940, they are found in the northern suburbs of Detroit in Macomb County. Leo died 20 Feb 1971 in Pontiac, Oakland, Michigan. His residence in the death index was listed as Walled Lake, Oakland, Michigan.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Since Leo was born likely born in 1897 in New York, I decided to start looking for August and Mary in the 1900 census.&nbsp; BINGO! There was an August and Mary A. JEAN living at 268 Lafayette Ave. in Buffalo, New York, in 1900. August was a 43-year-old lake captain who was born Oct 1856 in Canada French. I'm presuming "lake" captain must mean a boat captain on Lake Erie. Mary was listed as age 37 and born April 1863 in Canada English. There were 5 children enumerated: Mary Ethel, age 13, b. Jul 1886; Marie Elvia, age 10, b. May 1890; Augustin E., age 8, b. Jan 1892; Elizabeth A., age 4, b. Mar 1896; and Leo Ralph, age 2, b. Nov 1897. The three oldest children were born in Michigan, while the three youngest were born in New York. There was also a 25-year-old servant in the household named Sophia G. Izemburg. The family rented the home.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the "Suggested Records" column of the 1900 census page, I clicked on a link for Capt. August Jean at <i>Find A Grave</i>. I discovered that Captain August Jean is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Lackawanna, Erie, New York. A picture of his tombstone shows that he was born 28 Oct 1856 and died 14 Jan 1905. His wife is buried with him. Her name is listed as Mary A. RALPH on the tombstone. She was born 29 Apr 1863 and died 31 Oct 1900. This means she died just four months after the 1900 census was taken. Leo would have been barely 3 years old when his mother died and 7 years old when his father died. </div><div><br /></div><div>I checked the Buffalo city directories at <i>Ancestry.com</i> and found that August moved to 31 Greenwood Place beginning in 1902. He is listed here in all city directories until 1905, when his widow is listed as Mrs. August Jean. In 1906, she is listed at 31 Greenwood Place as Mrs. Mary E. Jean, widow of August. This tells me that August must have remarried sometime between his wife's death in 1900 and his death in 1905. It looks like he married another Mary! How confusing, but at least she has a different middle initial.&nbsp;</div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div><div>I then remembered that I had been in contact with the spouse of one of Leo and Alberta's descendants about her tree on <i>Ancestry.com</i>. I visited her public member tree and found several photos of Leo and one photo of his father, August. One of her photos of Leo stated that he was 3 years old and it was taken at a convent where his stepmother sent him to live. Well, that certainly makes the story more interesting.&nbsp;</div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div><div>At <i>FamilySearch</i>, I found that August JEAN and Mary A. RALPH were married 26 Mar 1883 in West Bay City, Bay, Michigan. I find it interesting that they went from Canada to Michigan to New York. I guess that was the life of a boat captain. Somehow Leo ended back up in Michigan as an adult. </div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div><div>The probate records for Erie County, New York, are available to browse at <i>FamilySearch</i>. In the index, I found that Mary Jean's probate was filed 12 Nov 1900 and her case number is 35604. August Jean's probate was filed 20 Jan 1905 and his case number is 35606. Unfortunately, the full estate case files for August and Mary were not available online, but I did find the letters of administration dated 14 Nov 1900 for Mary's estate appointing August as administrator. </div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div><div>I also found August mentioned in some Bay City newspapers in the 1880s and 1890s at <i>Genealogy Bank</i>. There was a church social held at his home; his cook stole $140 from him; he sold/bought property; he visited friends in Oscoda; and his boat was listed as having an accident near Buffalo in 1905. Oddly enough, it was several months after his death, but the article did not mention that he was dead. It just said the boat was owned by August Jean of this city. Maybe no one was notified that he had died in Buffalo. Or perhaps the boat belonged to his son, Augustin E. Jean.</div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div><div>Well, since August is a collateral, I think I will take a break now from researching him. It's always fun to take a new path, though!<br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div><div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;"></span></div>http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/sngf-semi-random-research.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-2758912663901932882Tue, 27 Aug 2013 03:12:00 +00002013-08-26T22:22:16.809-05:00Church RecordsObituariesProffittWonderful Find: Church Published ObituariesI know, I know. It has been two months since my last posting. How time flies! In those two months, I've managed to get a lot of research done. My most recent and exciting find has been the obituaries of my great-great-grandparents, William Harmon Proffitt and Emmer Link (Baker) Proffitt.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1LOEcghYbPI/UhwNI4qeIyI/AAAAAAAAAqM/96GA3ToMQGU/s1600/William+Harmon+Proffitt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1LOEcghYbPI/UhwNI4qeIyI/AAAAAAAAAqM/96GA3ToMQGU/s320/William+Harmon+Proffitt.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rev. William Harmon Proffitt</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jkj6VHHuPYI/UhwNLLlNbdI/AAAAAAAAAqU/0J7s3fb7QtY/s1600/Emmer+Link+Baker+Proffitt+at+Ponca+City,+OK+-+taken+by+William+John+Mertena.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jkj6VHHuPYI/UhwNLLlNbdI/AAAAAAAAAqU/0J7s3fb7QtY/s320/Emmer+Link+Baker+Proffitt+at+Ponca+City,+OK+-+taken+by+William+John+Mertena.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emmer Link (Baker) Proffitt</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I read several moons ago about the <a href="http://www.gcah.org/site/pp.aspx?c=ghKJI0PHIoE&amp;b=2901109" target="_blank">United Methodist Church's Genealogy Search</a> service provided by the General Commission on Archives and History. For $30, they will do up to one hour of research on any ancestors that were ministers or missionaries of the United Methodist Church (UMC) or any of its predecessor churches. I knew that William Harmon Proffitt was a Methodist Episcopal minister in Oklahoma from about 1900 until sometime between 1930 and 1940. I knew this because a) my grandmother is still living and he was her maternal grandfather that she knew personally during her childhood and b) he is listed as a minister in all census records from 1900 to 1930. In 1940, his employment status is listed as Other. I presumed he had retired from the ministry, as he was approaching 70 years old. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've been focusing my research on my Proffitt ancestors lately, as part of my efforts to get all sources for my great-great-grandparents into my RootsMagic database and properly organized in my paper files. I'm also trying to make to-do lists for each of my great-great-grandparents and actually accomplish the tasks on the list. One of the tasks for William was to request the research provided by the UMC archives. I figured it couldn't hurt to see what they had in their files. It only took about 2-3 weeks and I received the obituaries via email that were originally published in the West Oklahoma Annual Conference Journals for 1944 (William) and 1950 (Emmer).&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For those of you who don't know the church history, the present-day United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 with a merger of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Prior to that, The Methodist Church was formed in 1939 from a merger between the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church. The Evangelical United Brethren Church was formed in 1946 from the merger between the Evangelical Church and the United Brethren in Christ.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">An annual conference is an organizational unit of churches in a given geographical area. Each year, an annual conference is held and attended by both lay members and clergy from that geographical area. The appointments for clergy are announced at the annual conference and various other administrative type topics are discussed. The annual conference journal is published once a year and contains information about clergy, churches, and ministries of the conference. Among other things and lucky for me, it contains obituaries for church clergy and their spouses. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Below is a transcription of William's obit:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">William Harmon Proffit was born July 12, 1871 at Chestnut, Sevier County, Tennessee, and departed this life at the Alva, Oklahoma, Hospital July 3, 1944. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">In Tennessee he attended school and grew to manhood, entered the Ministry and at the age of 25 married Emmer Link Baker. In 1900 with his young bride he moved to Oklahoma and served a number of pastorates with the United Brethren church. In 1911 he transferred to the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving his first pastorate with the Methodists at Quinlan, in Alva district. For 18 years he served a number of pastorates in Northwest Oklahoma. While serving Quinlan for a second time, because of poor health, he was forced to retire in 1934. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">In addition to his wife he is survived by three sons, Foster of Oklahoma City, James of Jenks, Oklahoma and John of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; four daughters, Golda Curtis of Waynoka, Oklahoma; Kathrine Marshall of Omaha, Nebraska; Hassie Mertena of Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Bessie Kruse of Oklahoma City, and one brother, Samuel Proffitt of Longdale, Oklahoma. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Reverend Proffit was an able preacher, studious, and a man fully devoted to the ministry. He faced life's problems cheerfully and courageously. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Funeral services were conducted at the Waynoka Methodist Church by the pastor, George B. Baker.</blockquote>There were several pieces of info that I did not know prior to this obit, the most noteworthy being that he was actually a United Brethren minister for at least 11 years or so before he became a Methodist minister.&nbsp; I had no idea. Now I've got it on my to-do list to research the United Brethren churches in Northwest Oklahoma and East Tennessee. I also did not know when he retired. Now I know that my assumption of sometime between 1930 and 1940 was correct. As a side note, his birthplace is likely supposed to read "Chestnut Hill, Jefferson County, Tennessee." It is right near the border of Sevier County.<br /><br />Emmer's obit provided interesting information as well:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Mrs. William H. Proffitt, nee Emmer Link Baker, was born September 20, 1875, in the state of North Carolina, and passed away at Waynoka, Okla, July 5, 1949. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">She was married to Mr. Proffitt in 1896 while he was serving as a local Methodist preacher in Tennessee. Their lives were spent together in parsonages in Tennessee and Oklahoma. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">They came to Oklahoma in 1899 and filed on a homestead near Buffalo but later sold the relinquishment and Mr. Proffitt gave his time to the ministry. While the northwest section of the state was developing, Mr. Proffitt worked for some time with the United Brethren Church. Later he became as accepted supply with the Oklahoma Conference and then became a conference member in 1921. He was forced to retire from the active ministry because of ill health in 1935 and he and Mrs. Proffitt settled in Waynoka. He preceded his wife in death in 1945. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Seven children were born to this couple. N.F. Proffitt followed in his father's footsteps and became a Methodist preacher. He also preceded his mother in death. Six children survive: James Proffitt of Gage, Mrs. Golda Curtis of Waynoka, John Proffitt of Bartlesville, Mrs. Katherine Marshall of Omaha, Nebr., Mrs. Hassie Mertena of Ponca City and Mrs. Bessie Kruse of Oklahoma City. Fifteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren also survive. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Both during the years when her husband was in the active ministry and in later years, Mrs. Proffitt's life was given to the service of Christ and His Church. There was no task too humble for her to undertake. She asked only that she might use well the talents which had been entrusted to her. When no car was offered, she walked to do God's errands. She rejoiced to see flowers at the altar of the church on a Sunday morning and planned her garden to this end. These flowers reflected the love in her heart. The gardens around the heavenly mansions and in the parks of God's Kingdom now have another gardener and she is happy there working to maintain the beauty of the better home. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Funeral services were conducted at the Waynoka Methodist Church, July 7, 1949, with Rev. George Parkhurst, district superintendent, Rev. George Baker of Weatherford, and Rev. Henry Morton, pastor, having part.</blockquote>According to her obit, there was actually a homestead filed for in Buffalo, Harper, Oklahoma in 1899. I have it on my to-do list to request a lookup in the Federal Land Tract books on microfilm at the <a href="http://www.okhistory.org/research/genealogy" target="_blank">OK Historical Society</a>. The cost is only $10. This will give me the location of the application and patent that I can then order from the National Archives. One discrepancy, though, is that they were living about 90 miles from Buffalo at the time of the 1900 census. Another interesting point is that is says he worked as an "accepted supply" with the Oklahoma Conference. I've googled this and found out that "supply" is a term to akin to interim pastoring. Between the two obituaries, it sounds like perhaps he pastored churches for short periods of time as an interim pastor for about 10 years before he became a full-time pastor in 1921. This obit makes it sound like he was a Methodist pastor in Tennessee, but worked with the United Brethren in Oklahoma. His obit made it sound like he was a United Brethren pastor in Tennessee. I will need to research this discrepancy as well. <br /><br />My next stop is the <a href="http://www2.okcu.edu/library/archives.aspx" target="_blank">Oklahoma City University Archives</a>, which holds all the records from the Oklahoma Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The records of the annual conference will list the annual appointments of ministers. From 1911 onward, I should be able to find his appointments.<br /><br />I need to figure out where the United Brethren records are in Oklahoma from 1900-1911. I would like to verify my great-grandmother's supposed birthplace of Crescent, Logan, Oklahoma, in 1908. If I can find out where her father was appointed, then maybe I can confirm her birthplace. I suspect that she was not born in Crescent. This is the birthplace listed on her death certificate, but it was given by her husband, who was obviously not present at her birth. She met my great-grandfather while she was teaching in Crescent, but I don't think that she was born there as well. Her parents moved all over the state because of her father's work as a minister, so I think it would be too much of a coincidence that she was born in the same town where he met her.<br /><br />Have you tried finding obituaries for your ancestors in church publications? If not, I highly suggest you give it a try. You never know what you may find! http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/wonderful-find-church-published.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-4203431959708677356Sat, 22 Jun 2013 15:12:00 +00002013-06-22T10:12:55.008-05:00Calcasieu ParishHidden Genealogy Gem: Calcasieu Parish Records OnlineA few weeks ago, I wrote about my recent courthouse visit to the <a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-latest-courthouse-visit.html" target="_blank">Caclasieu Parish Clerk of Court's office </a>in Lake Charles. I mentioned that I had to gone to the website beforehand and tried to learn everything I could about what records were available and which department held what records. I also mentioned a courthouse employee telling me about online access to land records. When he mentioned this, I just assumed he meant online access only while at the courthouse. I did not ask, and he did not mention, anything about online access from home. <br /><br />Thursday night I was searching for information about the Calcasieu Citizens Tax Protective Services, Inc., which is the agency that purchased my great-great-grandfather's house in Lake Charles when it was put up for auction by the sheriff in 1964. When I searched for the name at Google, one of the results was the IT Services page of the Clerk of Court's website. I had ignored this page during my initial search of the website last month. Why? Well, because I just assumed it was some online resource for courthouse employees&nbsp; to use if they had computer issues while at work. Basically, I thought it was the page of the IT department, and what does the IT department have to do with records or genealogy? <br /><br />However, when I clicked on the link to the <a href="http://www.calclerkofcourt.com/dept.asp?cid=335" target="_blank">IT Services page</a> Thursday night, I was utterly shocked. This is what I saw.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-9AReNp_nY/UcW4BiqBFDI/AAAAAAAAApw/lPVARdoBtEE/s1600/Calc_Par_Clerk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-9AReNp_nY/UcW4BiqBFDI/AAAAAAAAApw/lPVARdoBtEE/s1600/Calc_Par_Clerk.png" height="348" width="400" />&nbsp;</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Suddenly, it clicked. Those records online that the land record employee was telling me about were actually available from my home computer! In fact, images were available! What??!!! And to top it off, not only are just the land records available, but marriage records too! What??? What/??!!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Of course, I was initially excited, but then I started to wonder just how affordable this would be. In my past experience, courthouses with online records usually charge a couple hundred dollars for access, only making it affordable to lawyers, title companies, etc. However, I did a little more research, and found out that a one-day pass would cost $5 and a 30-day pass would cost $20. There were also several other options, such as an annual pass and whatnot. The pass would allow me to do all the searching and viewing of documents that I wanted. If I wanted to save a copy of a document or print it, I would have to pay the standard courthouse copy cost of $1/page. I don't know about you, but I can fork over $20 for genealogy anytime. Besides, I'm pretty sure that everything I need to find is findable in one month, since my ancestors have only been in Calcasieu Parish since about 1930. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Of course, as genealogy luck would have it, I had to find that database around 11 PM on Thursday night, so I did not have time to stay up and do research then. It was already past my bedtime. It was hard to stay at work all day yesterday knowing this database was waiting for me when I got home. Needless to say, I have been sleuthing around the database since last night (yes, I did go to sleep for a few hours). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The database is pretty easy to use, especially for records after 1987. You just type in a name and all the results with links to images appear. For the archived marriage and land records prior to 1987, you have to first choose which record type you want to search and then search for the surname. Then a scanned image of the index page will appear. Or, sometimes, multiple selections will come up for index pages, and you can select which one you want. You can also browse the index at this point. Once you find the name you are looking for in the index, you can type in the book and page number into the search engine at the top right hand portion of the screen, and it will bring up an image of that page. You can also browse the actual records from this point. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">All in all, I would say that it's pretty neat. I found out some really great information about my modern day relatives. Some of it was the standard deed for the purchase of a home, but others showed juicy information about paternity and child custody cases. I also filled in the blanks for some of my great-aunts and uncles spouse's family information.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My next step is to check out the Civil Records database. I think the fees are the same, but it requires a separate subscription. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, don't forget to check out ALL the pages on a Clerk of Court's website. You just never know what genealogy gems you may find hidden.</div><br />http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/hidden-genealogy-gem-calcasieu-parish.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-3971312603568044732Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +00002013-06-14T06:00:01.686-05:00Friday FANSMertenaFriday FANS: Venita Randall (Part 3)Ok, I just had to do one more Friday FANS post on Venita Randall. <a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/friday-fans-venita-randall-part-2.html" target="_blank">As you'll recall from last week</a>, we found out from living grandmother that Venita was her father's girlfriend. My grandma didn't think too highly of her, of course, but I still wanted to find out more about her. I began my quest at <i>Ancestry.com</i> and tried to get beyond the city directories for Ponca City, Oklahoma, where I originally found Venita listed in the same house as my great-grandfather in 1952. I previously had traced Venita back in the city directories of Ponca City to 1946, when she was listed as Mrs. Venita Collins.<br /><br />Turns out, even with a unique name like Venita, she was still pretty hard to pin down. In fact, I really don't know if either of the two Venita's I've found in census records are her or not. My theory was that Collins was a married name and Randall was a maiden name that she reverted back to using after a divorce. I have searched the online marriage record index at the <a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/friday-fans-venita-randall-part-2.html" target="_blank">Pioneer Genealogical Society's</a> website for Kay County, Oklahoma, and I have not found a Collins bride by the name of Venita. If Randall was a second married name, they did not get married in Kay County. Of course, it is possible that Venita Collins' marriage to a Mr. Randall did occur in Kay County and is indexed under her maiden name, which is unknown at this time. The index is a .pdf document and not easily searchable. <br /><br />Assuming Randall as the maiden name, the closest match I've found is a woman named Venita Randall living in Iowa, Doniphan, Kansas, in the 1930 census. I did some searching and found that Doniphan County is in northeast Kansas, near the Nebraska/Missouri lines. It's a good 300 miles from Ponca City. Venita was age 20, which suggests a birth date of 1910 (same year as my great-grandfather). She was born in Kansas and did not have a job. She lived with her father, Claude E. Randall, and an uncle, Obadiah Harness. Her father was a mail carrier and her uncle a farm laborer. Is this my Venita? Maybe, maybe not.<br /><br />In 1940, I found a Venita Collins living in Prairie, Wyandotte, Kansas. She was age 30 and born in Kansas, the same age as the Venita Randall from 1930. Prairie is a suburb of Kansas City and 90 miles southeast of Iowa Township in Doniphan County. Venita lived with her husband, John W. Collins, age 32 and born in Kansas. He was a section hand for the railroad. There were no children. Interestingly, when looking back at the 1930 census, there was a John W. Collins living next door to Venita and her father who was about the same age. He was age 23 and a grocery merchant in 1930. Therefore, I'm pretty sure the Venita from 1930 is the same as the one from 1940. Is it my Venita? Still don't know. I'm assuming they must have moved from Doniphan County to the suburbs of Kansas City because of his job with the railroad. Could that have caused them to move to Ponca City as well? And, they lived in Topeka in 1935, according to the 1940 census, so it seems that they did move quite often. I'm no rail expert, but it looks like the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad ran through Ponca City and had connections in Topeka and Kansas City.<br /><br />I decided to go back and check the Ponca City directories for a John W. Collins between 1942 and 1948, and I did not find one. Oh, well. For now, I think I'll put Venita Randall to rest. I better do that before my great-grandmother comes back to haunt me. http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/friday-fans-venita-randall-part-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-8151653832303073307Sun, 09 Jun 2013 04:05:00 +00002013-06-08T23:05:52.987-05:00MertenaSaturday Night FunSNGF: Fun with MertenaMy <a href="http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/06/saturday-night-genwalogy-fun-your.html" target="_blank">Saturday Night Genealogy Fun</a> involved my Mertena line. This is the paternal line of my paternal grandmother. I've been working on FINALLY getting all of my sources for the Mertena family into my RootsMagic (RM) database. In fact, I've also been putting in a lot of the members of the Mertena family, since my RM database is my cleaned up database and hardly anyone is in there without any sources. In the last two weeks, I've input both of my great-grandparents' death certificates and obituaries; their marriage record; several of their city directory entries from Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Lake Charles, Louisiana; my great-grandfather's delayed birth certificate; my great-uncle Bill's death certificate, obituary, divorce certificate, marriage announcement, and a few city directory entries for him; my great-uncle Tony's obituary and photo his tombstone; and my great-aunt's marriage license. I've also added several to-do items to my great-grandparents and great aunt and uncles to-do lists. <br /><br />Tonight I decided to start working on the sources for my great-great-grandparents, John Henry Mertena and Blanche Welden. So far, I've found their marriage record at <i>FamilySearch</i>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E6yaYLQrnpw/UbP-M6fnmKI/AAAAAAAAApc/X-_dKkHziDk/s1600/1907+Mertena-Welden+Marriage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E6yaYLQrnpw/UbP-M6fnmKI/AAAAAAAAApc/X-_dKkHziDk/s1600/1907+Mertena-Welden+Marriage.jpg" height="400" width="246" /></a></div>I have several census records, death records, and obituaries to input for them as well. I believe I've even found Blanche's birth record from 1883 at Ancestry.com. Anyhow, I'd better get back to researching! Happy Hunting!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/sngf-fun-with-mertena.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-7873682648896208187Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +00002013-06-07T06:00:12.361-05:00Friday FANSMertenaFriday FANS: Venita Randall (Part 2)So last week I posted about <a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/friday-fans-venita-randall.html" target="_blank">Venita Randall</a>, a woman found in the Ponca City, Oklahoma, city directory living with my great-grandfather, Merlen Paris Mertena. I couldn't figure out who this mystery woman was. She was listed as his wife, yet he was still married to my great-grandmother, Hassie Cora Proffitt, at the time. And my great-grandmother was nowhere to be listed in the city directory. The year was 1952, which is the year they moved to Louisiana and the year my grandmother was 17 years old. Lucky for me, Grandma is still living. She is the last one of my grandparents living, so I've realized how important it is to get as much information out of her as possible. <br /><br />And, double lucky for me, Grandma did have an answer for me. This is one of those perfect examples where the ONLY source of this information is a living, breathing person. The information she gave me would likely not have been stated directly in any original source document. One of my theories was that Venita Randall was a roomer in either my great-grandparents' home or possibly in a house that they rented to her. She appeared to be a single, divorced woman from looking at previous city directories, in which she was listed as Mrs. Venita Collins. Another theory was that there was just some sort of mistake. Maybe since they moved in 1952, she had moved into their home after they moved out. Only problem was that he was listed with her at a new address in 1952; not the address from the previous city directories. Still, maybe they had moved within Ponca City sometime between 1948 (the previous directory available online at <i>Ancestry.com</i>) and 1952 and then moved to Louisiana. Or, perhaps, she was Merlen's girlfriend (<i>gasp</i>). <br /><br />So, you probably want to know what Grandma said, right? Well, I'll take away the suspense. The last theory was correct. Grandma said that her dad did have a girlfriend, who, of course, was a fluzy. She said that she was heavy-set and wore her hair in a pompadour. And this said girlfriend worked at the same drug store as her older brother. Guess where Venita Randall worked, according to the 1948 and 1952 city directories? Yep, you guessed it, Crown Drug. She felt bad that her brother had to work with the woman and see their dad come into the store and talk to his girlfriend. Grandma said that one time she was in the store shopping and overheard her dad talking to the woman at the counter. Her dad did not see her in the store. When her dad left, she heard the woman say to her female co-workers that he was her boyfriend and she was bragging about the jewelry he had bought her. When her mother found out that he had also bought his girlfriend the same set of China as her, she broke all of her China out on the sidewalk in front of their house. Grandma said that he even took the girlfriend on a trip out west because her mother refused to go. She did not think they had enough money to travel out west. She said the move to Louisiana in 1952 was supposed to be a fresh start for Merlen and Hassie. I guess it was in a sense, but Grandma said that her parents were ill-suited for one another, and I suppose a move to Louisiana did not change either of them. Merlen was an adventurous soul who liked to drink a little too much, and Hassie was a perfectionist schoolteacher and daughter of a preacher. <br /><br />Wow, and to think all of this information came to light because of an entry in a city directory....http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/06/friday-fans-venita-randall-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-4103382522637734872Fri, 31 May 2013 12:00:00 +00002013-05-31T07:00:13.135-05:00Friday FANSMertenaFriday FANS: Venita RandallI've decided to start a Friday blogging theme called Friday FANS. As most of you know, FANS stands for friends, associates, and neighbors. There have been a lot of my ancestors' FANS that I've wondering about lately. FANS can often help us figure out the origins of our ancestors, since many people traveled in groups, which were often made up of family AND friends. So, just because someone does not appear to be a family member, it does not mean that you should immediately ignore this person. Looking into the background of a neighbor may lead you to clues about your ancestor and his origins. I figured a series of blog posts on all my ancestors' FANS would help sort them all out. <br /><br />First up is Venita Randall. I was actually planning on taking a different approach by starting with someone else, but she greatly piqued my interest last night. I was going through the city directories for Ponca City, Oklahoma, where my paternal grandmother lived with her parents from about 1942-1952. My great-grandparents (her parents) were Merlen Paris Mertena and Hassie Cora Proffitt. I did not find the family in 1942 at <i>Ancestry.com</i>&nbsp; (they were probably still living in Mulhall, Logan, Oklahoma, where my grandmother was born). The next available directories were for 1946 and 1948, where I did find the family. <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8l5J_-QlOrQ/UaOMHRDSfEI/AAAAAAAAAnU/9WfR4TTZ9fM/s1600/Mertena_1946_Ponca_City_Dir.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="92" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8l5J_-QlOrQ/UaOMHRDSfEI/AAAAAAAAAnU/9WfR4TTZ9fM/s400/Mertena_1946_Ponca_City_Dir.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Polk's Ponca City Directory</i> (Dallas: R.L. Polk &amp; Co., 1946), 173, Merlen P. Mertena; digital image, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 May 2013).</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G2P0_ScWAEI/UaOMdnMbJgI/AAAAAAAAAnc/FY9PVWuJ6Jg/s1600/Mertena_1948_Ponca_City_Dir.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="85" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G2P0_ScWAEI/UaOMdnMbJgI/AAAAAAAAAnc/FY9PVWuJ6Jg/s400/Mertena_1948_Ponca_City_Dir.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Polk's Ponca City Directory</i> (Dallas: R.L. Polk &amp; Co., 1948), 156, Merlen P. Mertena; digital image, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 May 2013).</td></tr></tbody></table>Nothing strange there. Both directories stated that Merlen P. and Hassie C. Mertena resided at 105 E. Fresno Ave. and he worked at Continental Oil Co. This corroborates with other sources, including my grandmother herself, who is still living.<br /><br />The next available directory is for 1952. This is the year the family moved to Louisiana. I found Merlin P. Mertena still residing in Ponca City in 1952. However, Hassie was not listed as his wife, and he was listed at a different address.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-svuuTxR2dEk/UaOPC8Ds1AI/AAAAAAAAAns/T9MR1X0RwaY/s1600/Mertena_1952_Ponca_City_Dir.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-svuuTxR2dEk/UaOPC8Ds1AI/AAAAAAAAAns/T9MR1X0RwaY/s400/Mertena_1952_Ponca_City_Dir.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Polk's Ponca City Directory</i> (Dallas: R.L. Polk &amp; Co., 1952), 166, Merlin P. Mertena; digital image, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 May 2013).</td></tr></tbody></table>He is listed as living at 312 W. Central Ave. with a wife named Venita R. Mertena. What??? My first thought was that maybe this was a mistake. I've seen plenty of mistakes with spouse's names in city directories. I also wondered whether the address was a mistake because the only address ever listed in all other sources was the one on E. Fresno. <br /><br />This first thing I decided to do was check the street directory for 1952 to see who was listed at 105 E. Fresno and who was listed at 312 W. Central.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hjQG9lFFLuY/UaORYb_-JII/AAAAAAAAAn8/RZvuhw28-G0/s1600/Mertena_1952_street_dir.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hjQG9lFFLuY/UaORYb_-JII/AAAAAAAAAn8/RZvuhw28-G0/s400/Mertena_1952_street_dir.png" width="302" /></a></div>Well, Merlin Mertena was listed as the householder at 312 W. Central Ave., making it less likely there was a mistake in the name directory. So what about the other house at 105 E. Fresno?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FJQY4NSrMyE/UaOSJchpo8I/AAAAAAAAAoI/xJwsyQTR4vA/s1600/Mertena_1952_street_dir_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FJQY4NSrMyE/UaOSJchpo8I/AAAAAAAAAoI/xJwsyQTR4vA/s320/Mertena_1952_street_dir_2.png" width="320" /></a></div>Well, Merlen P. Mertena is listed as the householder here as well. And that little symbol after his name means that to the best of the directory company's knowledge, a member of the family owned the home. <br /><br />My next step was to search the directory for all Venita's living in Ponca City in 1952 to see if she had her own entry in the name directory. She didn't have one under Mertena but perhaps she was under another surname, since I was pretty certain my great-grandfather never married her.<br /><br />BINGO!<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p2VqRUnJnHU/UaOUwwEixDI/AAAAAAAAAoY/nLK1eU0dH5U/s1600/Randall_PC_Dir_1952.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="103" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p2VqRUnJnHU/UaOUwwEixDI/AAAAAAAAAoY/nLK1eU0dH5U/s400/Randall_PC_Dir_1952.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Polk's Ponca City Directory</i> (Dallas: R.L. Polk &amp; Co., 1952), 199, Venita Randall; digital image, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 May 2013).</td></tr></tbody></table>Venita Randall was listed as a fountain manager at Crown Drug residing at 312 W. Central Ave. She was listed as a roomer. There were no other Randall's with this address. Interesting.<br /><br />I decided to see if I could find out more about her in previous directories. I started with 1948.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4NItnjTqsYo/UaOXftMniuI/AAAAAAAAAoo/FAT0ZXbg1Sw/s1600/Randall_PC_Dir_1948.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="143" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4NItnjTqsYo/UaOXftMniuI/AAAAAAAAAoo/FAT0ZXbg1Sw/s400/Randall_PC_Dir_1948.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Polk's Ponca City Directory</i> (Dallas: R.L. Polk &amp; Co., 1948), 185, Venita Randall; digital image, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 May 2013).</td></tr></tbody></table>There she was again listed as a fountain manager for Crown Drug rooming at 1314 S. 4th. Again, no other Randall's at this address. I decided to take a look at the 1948 street directory to see who was listed as the householder. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ju21i7KUg4Q/UaOY0yS9jKI/AAAAAAAAAo0/U1HYG6nb0VM/s1600/Randall_PC_Dir_1948_street.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="335" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ju21i7KUg4Q/UaOY0yS9jKI/AAAAAAAAAo0/U1HYG6nb0VM/s400/Randall_PC_Dir_1948_street.png" width="400" />In the st</a></div>In the street directory, it lists Mrs. Venita Collins as living at 1314 1/2 S. 4th. Yes, another clue! She must have been married to a man named Collins at some point. What was Randall? A second married name? Or a maiden name? In the name directory, there was no Venita Collins listed. Nor were there any other Collins located at 1314 S. 4th. There was a Carl V. and Wanda Collins listed at 1325 S. 4th. The householder at 1314 S. 4th was Gilbert M. Whitlow. According to the&nbsp; name directory, he was married to Sarah M. and was an employee of Jess Whitlow Pipe Line Service.<br /><br />OK, so what about 1946? I did not find a Venita Randall, but I did find a Mrs. Venita Collins.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vcw965L0PSc/UaOcFe8BcAI/AAAAAAAAApE/VTAR00Whaek/s1600/Collins_Venita_1946.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vcw965L0PSc/UaOcFe8BcAI/AAAAAAAAApE/VTAR00Whaek/s400/Collins_Venita_1946.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Polk's Ponca City Directory</i> (Dallas: R.L. Polk &amp; Co., 1946), 65, Venita Collins; digital image, <i>Ancestry.com</i> (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 May 2013).</td></tr></tbody></table>She was living at 1314 1/2 S. 4th St. No occupation was listed, so perhaps she was recently divorced or still married. No other Collins were listed at the same address. This time Thos. E. Dwyer was listed as the householder at 1314 S. 4th in the street directory. <br /><br />I then searched 1942 and did not find a Venita Collins or Venita Randall. More research needs to be done to determine her identity and relationship to the family.<br /><br />There is a possibility that the family moved to 312 W. Central between 1948 and 1952 and was renting a room to her. My grandmother is still living and hopefully would remember if this were the case. However, why was the family still listed at 105 E. Fresno in the 1952 street directory if they had moved? Or, did they own the home at 312 W. Central and merely rent it out to Venita? Maybe they still lived at 105 E. Fresno.<br /><br />Alas, there is also the possibility that Merlen was shacking up with Venita. Not a pretty picture, but a possibility. Venita does appear to have been a single divorced woman. My grandmother told me that her parents' marriage was a rocky one. Maybe it's a little more than coincidental that they moved to Louisiana in 1952. I always assumed that Merlen just got transferred to the Continental refinery in Louisiana, but maybe there was a reason his wife wanted him to transfer. I think a call to my grandmother is in order. She would have been about 17 in 1952. Maybe she can shed some light. Stay tuned for updates.http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/friday-fans-venita-randall.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-2406104293910670432Sun, 19 May 2013 04:24:00 +00002013-06-22T10:38:56.104-05:00Calcasieu ParishLand RecordsResearch tripsSuccessions/ProbatesMy Latest Courthouse Visit<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1000+Ryan+St,+Lake+Charles,+LA&amp;layer=c&amp;sll=30.226456,-93.217697&amp;cbp=13,241.59,,0,-0.09&amp;cbll=30.226499,-93.217669&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hq=&amp;hnear=1000+Ryan+St,+Lake+Charles,+Louisiana+70601&amp;ll=30.226456,-93.217697&amp;spn=0.009956,0.021136&amp;t=m&amp;z=14&amp;panoid=IU9msqYFbtbdxg4Nsxfr0A&amp;source=embed&amp;output=svembed" width="425"></iframe><br /><small><a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1000+Ryan+St,+Lake+Charles,+LA&amp;layer=c&amp;sll=30.226456,-93.217697&amp;cbp=13,241.59,,0,-0.09&amp;cbll=30.226499,-93.217669&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hq=&amp;hnear=1000+Ryan+St,+Lake+Charles,+Louisiana+70601&amp;ll=30.226456,-93.217697&amp;spn=0.009956,0.021136&amp;t=m&amp;z=14&amp;panoid=IU9msqYFbtbdxg4Nsxfr0A&amp;source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br />As I've blogged about lately, I've been adding all the sources to my database for my 16 great-great-grandparents. Doing that has inspired me to update my to-do lists for my grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents. This, in turn, inspired me to visit the courthouse located where I grew up in Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. I realized I had never been there and had no land or succession records for my paternal grandparents, great-grandparents, and my great-great-grandfather who lived in Calcasieu Parish.&nbsp; And since we were going to be visiting the area for my husband's niece's college graduation, why not go a day early and visit the courthouse? <br /><br />In preparation for my visit, I watched the Legacy Family Tree webinar "<a href="http://www.familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=161" target="_blank">That First Trip To The Courthouse</a>" by Judy G. Russell of <a href="http://www.legalgenealogist.com/" target="_blank">The Legal Genealogist</a>. (Technically, this was not my first trip to a courthouse, but it was my first trip to <i>this</i> courthouse and probably my first visit to a courthouse since 2009). Judy always provides sound advice and suggested learning all that one could about the courthouse before actually visiting.<br /><br />I visited the <a href="http://www.calclerkofcourt.com/" target="_blank">Calcasieu Parish Clerk of Court website</a> and first noted the <a href="http://www.calclerkofcourt.com/info.asp?caid=1&amp;cid=20" target="_blank">Office Hours &amp; Holidays</a> page. Lucky for me, I found that I was not planning my visit on some obscure local holiday and the normal hours were 8:30 to 4:30 Monday-Friday. I also learned that there were two parking lots behind the courthouse. <br /><br />I also checked out the pages for the various departments to determine what types of records are there and which department maintains what records. I only had one day, so I decided to narrow my focus to Successions (aka Probates in most states) and Conveyances (aka Deeds in most states). I learned from the departmental pages that Successions were handled by Civil Records and that Conveyances have their own separate department that also includes mortgage records. I also noted that although Conveyances had its own department, the photocopies for Conveyances were handled by Civil Records. In addition, I noted that there was an Archives department housing criminal records, civil records, successions, and marriages from 1910-1994. Photocopy fees were listed as $1.00/page.<br /><br />Judy also suggested bringing plenty of coins, particularly quarters, for photocopying. However, I really didn't feel like doing this if I didn't have to, so I called ahead and found out that coins were not necessary for photocopy fees. The guy acted like I was crazy for asking and told me I could just do research on the computer. Um, I was asking about photocopies, not research, but okay. Confused at this point, I politely explained to him that I just wanted to verify before visiting because I have experienced this before at other courthouses. Then he explained that they took cash or check for photocopy fees. This just goes to show that Judy is right when she states that "the courthouse employees are there to help modern-day people solve modern-day problems." This guy had no clue what other courthouses do because he's not a traveling courthouse-loving genealogist.<br /><br />Of course, as all trips to the courthouse go, things NEVER go as expected. You can try your hardest to learn everything you can before you go, but there's always something you don't anticipate. However, my best advice is to try your hardest not to get flustered and give up. My first challenge was figuring out where the Clerk's office was in the massive courthouse building. After circling two or three times, I finally found it at the back of the courthouse, not far from the parking lots.<br /><br />Once inside, I decided to start with successions. I quickly found a listing showing the location of each department. When I walked into the Civil Records office, I was immediately asked if I needed help.&nbsp; I told the employee that I wanted to find the succession files of several people and that I had a list of the names and death dates. She asked me what I meant by this. Again, I was confused. I thought I was pretty direct by saying that I had a list of names and dates for which I wanted to find succession files.. Besides, did she really want me to go into my family history spiel? Surely not. Judy warned about not bothering the courthouse employees with the details of your research.<br /><br />Then I figured out why she asked. She was scared that I had 30 or 40 names. Why was she scared? Because patrons are not allowed to do their own research in successions. I have never experienced this at a courthouse before, so I never thought to call and ask ahead of time. The website did mention that succession research could be requested by mail or fax for a research fee and photocopy costs. However, I just assumed that walk-in patrons could do their own research. Not so. Although I was sad that I could not do my own research, the employee was very nice and she did look up the records for me. She was able to find the three most recent ones and referred me to the Archives department for the older records. Luckily, I only had 6 or 7 total that I needed. What would have happened if I had had 30 or 40? Obviously, once again, it was apparent to me that courthouse rules are made for modern-day people with modern-day problems. Most modern-day people walk in the succession office needing one file. <br /><br />My next problem was that I did not anticipate how many pages a succession file could be. And at $1.00/page, my costs were quickly adding up. I had only taken $60 out at the ATM and had left my checkbook at my mother-in-law's house. Not a huge problem because Lake Charles is not a huge city and it didn't take me long to run back to the mother-in-law's and grab the checkbook. The courthouse employee agreed to hold the third succession file for me while I left to get more money. Note to self: bring at least $100 next time. <br /><br />I returned and purchased the pages of the third succession file. I then moved onto Archives to find the older succession files. Before delving into to much information, I asked the employee there if I would be allowed to do my own research in the archived successions. She said that I would not, so I politely thanked her and moved onto Conveyances &amp; Mortgages. Why waste time having them do the research while I wait when I could just mail or fax the request for research? No need to waste time in person.<br /><br />I was a lot more successful with the land record research. I walked in the office and explained to the employee at the Research desk that I had done research in land records before but never at this courthouse. I asked him to explain where the indexes and records were located. He was very helpful and explained that the index for land records could be researched via computer beginning with the year 1945. The actual land records beginning in 1987 were also on the computer. He pointed out the location of the computers as well as the index books for land records and the location of the mortgage index books as well. Aaahhh, finally, I was able to do my own research. How exciting!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uCNqzeIqpJs/UZhP3BYYx_I/AAAAAAAAAnE/UPjnmDBE9-w/s1600/2013-05-17+14.44.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uCNqzeIqpJs/UZhP3BYYx_I/AAAAAAAAAnE/UPjnmDBE9-w/s1600/2013-05-17+14.44.45.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>&nbsp; <br />I found all the land records I was expecting and even a few I didn't expect. I searched the vendor indexes for 1934-1981 and vendee indexes for 1920-1981. My great-great-grandfather, Oscar Trahan, first moved to the Lake Charles area between 1930 and 1934, which is how I picked my starting point (the index book containing 1930-1934 began in 1920). I ended with 1981 only because I had limited time (hubby needed the car for his hair appointment).<br /><br />I made notes in my notebook of all the file numbers, volumes, and page numbers and then brought the information to Civil Records. Patrons do not do their own photocopying either, even in the land records. While waiting for my photocopies, I went across the hall to Archives again and found out that I could actually do my own research in the indexes to the records they had. I just couldn't research the actual records. I started looking at the succession indexes through 1986, but didn't really find what I wanted, so I wandered back over to Civil Records and waited for my photocopies. I was $1 short on my photocopy fees, and I offered to get the quarters out of my car (those ones I was planning on bringing), but the really kind employee there told me not to worry about it. <br /><br />All in all, I was disappointed that I couldn't do some of my own research, but since the employees were so helpful and kind, it somewhat made up for it. Why can't patrons do their own research in public records? Well, I think it's a space issue and not a records access issue. There did not seem to be a whole lot of space in the Civil Records office where all the succession files were located. The Archives department was even smaller. It was getting a little crowded in the Archives office when I was looking through the succession indexes. There's only room for about 2 researchers (maybe). <br /><br />Also, an interesting thing I learned is that it takes a LOT of patience to be an employee in the clerk's office. SERIOUSLY. People come in there all day long not really knowing exactly what document they want. The courthouse employees have to ask lots of questions to help them figure out what they really want. In fact, other than the attorneys and title companies, I think I was the only person who knew what I was looking for. So if a courthouse employee ever gets testy with you, it's only because they've been trying to read minds all day and now you are trying to tell them all the details about Grandma Mary's crazy divorce from Grandpa Jim.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-latest-courthouse-visit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-8606199796769348947Sat, 11 May 2013 19:32:00 +00002013-05-11T14:59:24.975-05:00OrganizationRootsMagicChanging the Way I Create Facts in RootsMagicNow that I am well on my way to <a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/paper-files-organization-project.html" target="_blank">organizing my paper file</a><a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/paper-files-organization-project.html" target="_blank">s</a> and making sure all my sources for my 16 great-great-grandparents are properly cited in my database, I am changing up the way I create Facts/Events in RootsMagic. Back in February 2012, Randy Seaver over at GeneaMusings started a discussion about <a href="http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/are-you-evidenced-based-or-conclusion.html" target="_blank">evidence-based vs. conclusion-based genealogists</a>. Essentially, Randy defined an evidence-based genealogist as one who would create five different facts for the same event given five difference sources. A conclusion-based genealogist would create one fact for an event and cite one or multiple sources for this one fact. Basically, a conclusion-based genealogist comes to a conclusion based upon all the sources and only records one fact, rather than presenting all five facts as an evidence-based genealogist would.<br /><br />The discussion started to make me think about whether or not I was evidence-based or conclusion-based. Until now, I was mostly evidence-based. For my great-grandfather Bienvenue Trahan's birth, I have the following sources:<br /><br /><ul><li>Baptismal record dated 12 Dec 1908: Born 26 Oct 1908 </li><li>1910 U.S. Census: age 1 - born about 1909 in Louisiana (<span style="color: red;">note: age supports birth date of 26 Oct 1908</span>)</li><li>1930 U.S. Census: age 20 - born about 1910 in Louisiana (living with in-laws)</li><li>1940 U.S. Census: age 33 - born about 1907 in Louisiana; his wife, Beatrice, is marked as the informant</li><li>Death certificate dated 18 Mar 2006: Born 26 Oct 1908 in Scott, Louisiana; informant is son, Benford M. Trahan</li><li>Obituary dated 20 Mar 2006 published in <i>Lake Charles American Press</i>: age 97 - born about 1909 (<span style="color: red;">note: age supports birth date of 26 Oct 1908</span>)</li><li>Gravestone at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Scott, Louisiana - Born 26 Oct 1908</li><li>SSDI Entry: Born 26 Oct 1908</li><li>Marriage record of son, Benford, 02 Feb 1955 - Father born in Louisiana</li><li>Delayed birth record of son, Benford, 08 Nov 1988 - Father born in Louisiana</li><li>Death certificate of son, Benford, 06 Sep 2009 - Father born in Vatican, Louisiana; informant is Bienvenue's daughter-in-law, Merlene (Mertena) Trahan</li><li>Interview with Bienvenue published in <i>Vinton News</i>, 04 Jun 1998: listed as age 89 and a "native of Vatican...7 miles north of Scott"</li></ul>In my genealogy database, I had several facts for Bienvenue's birth (sorry, I did not do screen shots before changing it):<br /><br /><ul><li>Birth: 26 Oct 1908, Vatican, Lafayette, Louisiana (<span style="color: red;">sources: baptismal record, 1910 census, obituary, gravestone, SSDI entry, marriage record of son, delayed birth record of son, newspaper article, death certificate of son</span>)</li><li>Alt. Birth: 26 Oct 1908 in Scott, Lafayette, Louisiana (<span style="color: red;">source: death certificate</span>)</li><li>Alt. Birth: abt 1910 in Louisiana (<span style="color: red;">source: 1930 census</span>)</li><li>Alt. Birth: abt 1907 in Louisiana (<span style="color: red;">source: 1940 census</span>)</li></ul>Note that when a source only listed a birthplace, such as his son's marriage record, I matched it up with the preferred fact rather than creating a new alternative fact for just the birthplace, provided the birthplace was the same as the one in the preferred fact. <br /><br />When all of this discussion was going on back in 2012, I read a post over at <a href="http://genealogybyginger.blogspot.com/2012/03/am-i-evidence-based-genealogist-or.html" target="_blank">Genealogy by Ginger's Blog</a>, in which she discussed how she is a hybrid of the evidence and conclusion-based genealogist. She stated that she only puts one fact into her RootsMagic database, but she cites all sources and discusses the alternative facts in the Notes section of the event. This creates less duplication when creating narrative reports in RootsMagic. I really liked Ginger's idea, so I decided to try it on my own. Now for Bienvenue, his screen looks like this:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yHmVTBgsBf0/UY6bLfaISQI/AAAAAAAAAmU/L8LsA2zsve8/s1600/bienvenue+screen+shot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yHmVTBgsBf0/UY6bLfaISQI/AAAAAAAAAmU/L8LsA2zsve8/s1600/bienvenue+screen+shot.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ojruQSIP8So/UY6ZrWGe57I/AAAAAAAAAmI/gYsdD-Pn7P8/s1600/bienvenue+screen+shot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uAfFuJydp8Q/UY6Y9JE_ijI/AAAAAAAAAl8/nlN1A-1khAE/s1600/bienvenue+screen+shot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>Now there is only one fact for his Birth and whenever I print a narrative report, I can see the Birth Notes explaining all the discrepancies in his birth information:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zYjvIRxBbAY/UY6ePrOWrmI/AAAAAAAAAms/1mKfTnnw_Jo/s1600/bienvenue+narrative.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zYjvIRxBbAY/UY6ePrOWrmI/AAAAAAAAAms/1mKfTnnw_Jo/s1600/bienvenue+narrative.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Px8gWgIfBAU/UY6cOYr0JTI/AAAAAAAAAmg/fQhvMr7JhOc/s1600/bienvenue+narrative.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br />Many thanks to Ginger for giving me this wonderful idea!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/changing-way-i-create-facts-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-5976298889767477654Sat, 04 May 2013 22:16:00 +00002013-05-04T22:05:06.575-05:00CurrieSaturday Night FunSaturday Night Genealogy Fun: Mother's Mother's Patrilineal Line<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="&#45;-"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It's time for <a href="http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html?utm_source=feedly">Saturday Night Genealogy Fun</a> from Randy over at GeneaMusings.</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><h4><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1) What was your mother's mother's name? </span><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;</span></h4></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My mother's mother was Violet Mae Currie. She was born 24 Oct 1930 in Flynn Township, Sanilac, Michigan.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><br /><h4><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2) What is your mother's mother's&nbsp;<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error">patrilineal</span></span>&nbsp;line? That is, her father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line? </span><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;</span></h4></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Violet's patrilineal line is as follows:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Archie Currie (1889-1963) m. Jennie Grace Christina Plaine (1903-1937)</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Alexander Currie (ca 1837-1909) m. Mary Raymond (1852-1920)</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">James Currie (ca 1816-aft 1881) m. Margaret McGill (ca 1816-1880)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><br /><h4><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">3) Can you identify male sibling(s) of your mother's mother, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that&nbsp;<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error">patrilineal</span></span>&nbsp;line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further. </span><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;</span></h4></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #7030a0; font-family: &quot;inherit&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Violet did not have any siblings that survived to adulthood. She had one brother, Howard Archibald Currie, but he died as a young child. Her father, Archie, had three known brothers: Alexander, William, and Ervin. Alexander had one son named Theodore Donald Currie, but he had no known children. Not much is known about what happened to William. Violet always said that he was a "hobo" that followed the trains. He left a trunk of stuff at her dad's house that he never returned to get (how I wish I had that trunk now!). Ervin had two sons, Robert J. Currie and Donald Eugene Currie. I have not tried to track down their descendants. I need to check the obituary index online at the Saginaw Public Library. I obtained Ervin's obit from there, and I think his son's obits are probably there as well.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Tahoma&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"></span> http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-mothers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-8857769400410940186Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:57:00 +00002013-05-04T22:05:20.477-05:00OrganizationPaper Files Organization Project<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t8lBc3CfKc4/UXh1h9tvOFI/AAAAAAAAAlM/Qi2pz-Y0A0I/s1600/MP900442451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t8lBc3CfKc4/UXh1h9tvOFI/AAAAAAAAAlM/Qi2pz-Y0A0I/s320/MP900442451.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />I just can't seem to stay away from organizing. I just finished a <a href="http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/rootsmagic-database-sourceevent-cleanup.html" target="_blank">huge database cleanup project</a>, and now I've moved on to organizing my paper files. In fact, in my last post, I said I was going to do away with my paper files, except for really old original documents. Well, I've changed my mind. I started reading DearMyrtle's <a href="http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/p/organization.html" target="_blank">organization checklists</a> and then I watched the Legacy webinar about the <a href="https://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=W_FAMROOTS" target="_blank">Family Roots Organizer System</a>. And my little organization-loving heart just could not bear to part with the paper files. In fact, it decided to create more paper files.<br /><br />The main convincing argument was one by DearMyrtle: it peaks family members' interest when they have something tangible in their hands to read like a book. Who is going to be interested in my digital filing system? Don't worry. I am still keeping my digital filing system, but I am also keeping the paper files to share with others. <br /><br />Unlike DearMyrtle, I am using file folders rather than binders to organize my paper files. I find that binders take up too much space, and since we haven't bought a house yet and still live in an apartment, it's much easier to find space for a filing cabinet. The only thing I don't like about file folders is the ability of the papers to get loose. To help with that, I am putting two-hole prongs inside each folder and punching holes in all my documents. Don't worry. There are no original documents that I will be punching holes in. <br /><br />I am using a variation of the color coding system suggested by the Family Roots Organizer System. All my paternal grandfathers' (Trahan) ancestors will have blue folders; all my paternal grandmothers' (Mertena) ancestors will have green folders; all my maternal grandfathers' (Pemberton) ancestors will have red folders; and all my maternal grandmothers' (Currie) ancestors will have purple folders. Why purple instead of yellow? Yellow is the color suggested, but my grandmother's name was Violet, and she liked the color purple. Plus, I am also using this color coding in RootsMagic, and the yellow text is hard to see.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WHpFsdOccsI/UXiaVPiZFYI/AAAAAAAAAlc/9m1GQSq4YB4/s1600/2013-04-24+21.43.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WHpFsdOccsI/UXiaVPiZFYI/AAAAAAAAAlc/9m1GQSq4YB4/s400/2013-04-24+21.43.38.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />I already have colored hanging folders for each of the surnames of my 16 great-great-grandparents. I am alphabetizing them by color. For example, all my blues are in alphabetical order, followed by the greens, etc. So far, within my blue folders, I have one manila file folder each for myself, my parents, my two uncles who married, and my paternal grandparents. I am currently working on the folder for my great-grandparents, Bienvenue TRAHAN and Beatrice Marie BONEAUX. In each of the manila folders, I have family group sheets, individual summary reports for husband and wife, discrepancy charts (when necessary), research checklists and to-do lists, and all of their documents, beginning with the marriage record. I also have documents for their children who never married. When I get back into the generation of my great-great-grandparents, I am going to add research logs, research notes, and county/state maps. As I am going through the documents in the paper files, I am scanning them and adding the source citations to my RootsMagic database.<br /><br />As suggested by the Family Roots Organizer System, I am putting all my direct line manila folders on the folder with the right tab. One variation I am making is the order of the folders. The Family Roots Organizer System suggests to order each couple folder alphabetically using the husband's name, but I'm going to order them in ahnentafel order. Within the Trahan folder, my folder will be first, then my parents' folder, then my grandparents' folder, etc. The siblings of my direct line ancestors will have manila folders behind the folder of the direct line sibling, but they will be on the middle tab and have a blue/green/red/purple dot to easily identify them as collaterals. Any of the documents for children and grandchildren of the siblings will also go in the sibling's manila folder. I think I will use colored paper to divide the manila folder for siblings into sections for their children and grandchildren. I am using the manila folders with left tabs for things such as Pedigree Charts (one for each surname beginning with the youngest direct line ancestor in the line), Research Not Yet Proven, Correspondence, etc.<br /><br />Once I get manila folders set up for all my couples on the five-generation pedigree chart, then I will finish sorting out all my other paper files. I have four banker's boxes sitting at the end of my spare bed right now, one for each grandparent.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s1IH8dyVyKk/UXiapN5m-fI/AAAAAAAAAlk/5QH_83FFBlw/s1600/2013-04-24+21.44.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s1IH8dyVyKk/UXiapN5m-fI/AAAAAAAAAlk/5QH_83FFBlw/s400/2013-04-24+21.44.12.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />This is where I have my paper files that are currently in surname folders (no couple folders). I also have several binders of paper files filed by type of record rather than surname (not sure what I was thinking with this filing system) that I have not put into the boxes yet. Basically, I am combining two paper filing systems into one new one with very pretty colors. The reason I had two filing systems previously is because I started out with surname and then changed to type of record. I am so ready to be on one paper system.<br /><br />In the future, I need to decide what to do with my collateral spouse research. For instance, I have done much research on a couple of my aunts' and uncles' sides of the family. For now, I will just leave those files digitized. I do have some paper files for those lines, but I will keep them to the side until I am done organizing my direct line and direct line siblings papers.<br /><br />Well, I had better get back to organizing, scanning, and citing! If anyone has suggestions for my new system, please share in the comments. Thanks!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/paper-files-organization-project.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-5037715459199842857Thu, 11 Apr 2013 03:36:00 +00002013-05-04T22:05:35.091-05:00OrganizationRootsMagic Database Source/Event Cleanup Complete!Yes, you heard right. My source/event cleanup project that has been going on and off for about 3 years now is complete. I feel a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. Because I have an obsession with order, it made me anxious for the last three years to work in the database without everything being neat and organized. So I would go through spurts of doing cleanup and then stopping to do research and then getting tired of looking at the mess and starting where I left off with the cleanup again. <br /><br />What was the main problem? Well, the main problem was that I started a database in Legacy 6.0 before the Evidence Explained based source templates were available. When Legacy made them available with Legacy 7.0, I started converting my sources to the proper templates. Then midway, I decided to switch to RootsMagic. Once I did the database conversion, the sources got all garbled again.<br /><br />The other problem was that I did not like the way that I entered events in Legacy. I had multiple instances with one source each when I could have just had one event with multiple sources. I also added some new events that I had not been using, such as the "census" event.<br /><br />While I was at it, I also updated a lot of info from new online sources, such as the city directories at <i>Ancestry.com</i> and the 1940 census.<br /><br />Another problem was that I didn't have the source detail text entered with the source citation, so I added source detail text to each citation.<br /><br />Now that I've fixed most of this stuff, I've just been doing minor cleanup with my digital files. I've reorganized some of them and changed a few file names. I find changing file names to be tedious, though, so I've just been doing one family at a time. I will probably only change the file names for my direct line ancestor documents. I've decided to start doing my filenames in the format Year LastName GivenNames Description. For example: 1928 Pemberton John P. Birth. This sorts my files by date order. Previously, I did not really have a standard file name format. <br /><br />Now I need to start working on entering about 5-10 documents that I sporadically ordered from various vital records repositories and such while I was doing cleanup. I have them in a To Be Entered folder sitting on my nightstand.<br /><br />I also need to attack my paper files and reorganize them. Currently, I have them organized by surname with no sub-folders, but I would like to create sub-folders for each married couple. I would like to get away from paper as much as possible, but I'm not 100% sure that I can part with everything. I definitely cannot part with old family documents. I have all my digital files backed up on Mozy and I have them synced with Dropbox, so I think they are pretty safe. I can probably part with documents that I've printed from microfilm and online once I make sure I have a digital copy. <br /><br />Then I need to get back to research full-time. Not sure where I want to start. I know there are several records on the families I already have in my database that I need to order. I should probably start there. For instance, I have several citations from the "Michigan Death Index, 1971-1996 "at <i>Ancestry.com</i>, but we all know that an index is not a true source citation. It's just a clue of where to find the original source. I need to run a list of all people in my database with that source attached and determine who I need to order death records for. For some of the really distant cousins or collaterals, I will probably just leave the index as the citation for now. <br /><br />Once I revisit everyone already in my database, I will probably start to focus on finding sources for another family line. The majority of people already in my database are from the Pemberton line, my mother's paternal line. It's so hard to pick which line to start with, though. I guess I could start with my great-great-grandparents and work each line in ahnentafel order. <br /><br />So, the major cleanup project is done! What a relief! Now I just have a few minor projects to get on and then I can get back to real research! So excited!http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/rootsmagic-database-sourceevent-cleanup.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-1133030449882878941Mon, 25 Mar 2013 02:59:00 +00002013-05-04T22:05:55.313-05:00Beginning GenealogyThe Genealogical Journey of a 30-SomethingA few weeks ago, James Tanner of Genealogy's Star posted about the <a href="http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-genealogy-age-gap-how-do-we-expand.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FGACzzI+%28Genealogy%27s+Star%29" target="_blank">Genealogy Age Gap</a>. His post asked what the genealogy community could do to include more young people. It had a slightly negative slant to it about his hope for the younger generation and their ability to be competent genealogists. It caused a lively discussion in the Comments section, and Elyse (a 20-something genealogist) wrote a rebuttal post titled "<a href="http://elysesgenealogyblog.com/young-people-arent-interested-in-genealogy/" target="_blank">Young People Aren't Interested in Genealogy?</a>" This topic has always interested me, as I've always considered myself one of the younger genealogists and quite frankly, I had no idea there were any others until I discovered the blogging community about four years ago.<br /><br />I began my journey when I was about 12 years old. I was somewhat rebellious, and my paternal grandmother thought I needed a hobby. She was interested in genealogy, and I was always asking her questions about her family, so she suggested we visit the local genealogy library in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This was around 1993-94, before the Internet really became popular with the general public. When we got to the library, we quickly realized most of their sources were for Louisiana, and only my paternal grandfather's family was from Louisiana. But, hey, it was a start. The librarians were so excited that a young person was interested in genealogy. They and other library patrons told me about citing my sources, but of course, I did not listen. Who had time for that? I just wanted to know who my ancestors were. I was able to go back several generations on my paternal grandfather's line and over the next four years or so, my grandmother and I made several trips to the library to explore my paternal grandfather's extended and collateral lines. My main sources for research were several books of Southwest Louisiana Catholic church sacramental record abstracts and a few books on Acadian family lines. It never even occurred to me at the time to order copies of the church records. I didn't even know the difference between primary and secondary sources. Being so young, I was obviously unable to travel to research any other sides of my family, considering they were from Oklahoma and Michigan.<br /><br />I discovered the Internet for genealogy research when I was about 16 years old around 1997. My main discoveries were WorldConnect family trees and Family Tree Maker trees published online. This is how I first started researching my maternal lines and my paternal grandmother's family. I also used the online trees to discover more information on my paternal grandfather's line without having to visit the library. At this point, I started using Family Tree Maker and started copying and pasting all the unsourced info into the software. Aside from family trees, I discovered <a href="http://vitalrec.com/">Vitalrec.com</a> and started to dabble in ordering vital records from Michigan. This was probably my first experience with primary sources found outside the family (I had a few vital records that my grandmothers had, such as my great-grandfather's death certificate). I also visited a courthouse in Michigan while I was in college. From the time I was 16 until I was about 23, my research was very sporadic, as high school and college took precedence in my life. <br /><br />Right before my 24th birthday (c. 2005) is when I REALLY started to become more serious about genealogy. Of course, it depends how you define "serious." I guess you could say I started spending&nbsp; more time on it. I updated Family Tree Maker and started to actually cite my sources (it only took 12 years). I subscribed to Ancestry.com that year and discovered census records. I also started ordering more vital records for my Michigan ancestors. My research slowed down a little in 2006 while I was in grad school.<br /><br />After grad school, I switched over to Legacy Family Tree in 2007. Instead of importing my FTM file, I started over because of all the unsourced info I had in FTM. However, I was still copying and pasting those unsourced family trees in Legacy. The only difference was that I was actually citing those unsourced family trees as sources. Silly me.<br /><br />I discovered genealogy blogs in January 2009 and quickly started my own. This is when I really started to feel part of a genealogy community. I also learned to stop citing those trees as sources. Instead, I started copying and pasting the info into Notes for further research, along with a reference to the website. I started trying to follow Elizabeth Shown Mills' citation examples in <i>Evidence Explained</i>. Since fall 2009, I've been cleaning up sources that I finally started to cite back in 2005. My original citations were fairly elementary and when I switched to RootsMagic in fall 2009, some of them got jumbled. I've also been moving the info from unsourced trees to the Notes section for individuals.<br /><br />Currently, I probably spend about 2 hours a day during the week on genealogy research. A lot of&nbsp; my research is done online at FamilySearch and Ancestry.com, as well as a few other sites. On the weekends, I spend about 4 hours a day (or more). I don't do a lot of traveling, though I occasionally go to the Louisiana State Archives or the local genealogy library here in Baton Rouge. I also visit the local Family History Center from time to time. I try to fit in research at the library and courthouse when I visit cousins in Michigan, but the living take priority so I don't always get as much done as I'd like. My dream is to buy a summer house in Michigan when I retire and do my research. I can't wait to retire so I can spend more time on genealogy research. <br /><br />Overall, I think I've matured a lot in my research since my early days. I am curious whether or not most researchers go through these phases. I probably stayed in the earlier phases longer than those who start out older. With the advent of the Internet, I also think the beginning stage has probably been revamped. People are no longer limited to their local resources. I seem to have matured faster since my involvement in blogging. http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-genealogical-journey-of-30-something.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1542530643192060714.post-5422188491975606843Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:39:00 +00002013-05-04T22:06:08.241-05:00VioletViolet #1 and Violet #2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvdz2e9BUPE/UU8rn97OYII/AAAAAAAAAk0/b1Jc_7VxYBk/s1600/Violet+Mae+Currie+&amp;+friend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvdz2e9BUPE/UU8rn97OYII/AAAAAAAAAk0/b1Jc_7VxYBk/s320/Violet+Mae+Currie+&amp;+friend.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This is a photo of my maternal grandmother, Violet Mae Currie. She is the little girl on the left. It was taken about 1935 outside her parents' home in Flynn, Sanilac, Michigan.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kW48D4YxJZc/UU8sCXcyGaI/AAAAAAAAAk8/QKDteiHbV5w/s1600/2013-03-23+11.09.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kW48D4YxJZc/UU8sCXcyGaI/AAAAAAAAAk8/QKDteiHbV5w/s320/2013-03-23+11.09.29.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>This is my niece, Violet, who came to visit me from Arkansas this weekend. Isn't she a cutie? She is Violet #2, named after her great-grandmother. <br /><br />http://jennifergenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/violet-1-and-violet-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Jennifer Sepulvado)0